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1 

TUB 



LIVES AND SERVICES 



OP 



MAJOR GENERAL JOHN THOMAS, 
COLONEL THOMAS KNOWLTON, 
COLONEL ALEXANDER SCAMMELL, 
MAJOR GENERAL HENRY DEARBORN. 



COMPILED BY CHARLES COFFIN. 



NEW- YORK : 

EGBERT, HOVEY & KINO, PRINTERS, 374 PEARL-STREET. 

1845. 



PREFACE. 



Having long been satisfied from the general history of 
the Revolution, that no officer deserved the esteem and 
respect of his country, more than General Thomas, I have 
been led to look more particularly into the grounds of the 
high estimation in which he was held by Washington, Con- 
gress, the army and the country, and am satisfied his fame 
was not ephemeral, but well founded. 

In this inquiry, valuable letters from Generals Wash- 
ington, Lee, and Schuyler, and from John Adams, never 
before published, have come to light, and are of such value, 
connected with the early movements of the Revolution, as 
to induce my consent that the whole should be published. 

The Compiler, 
New-York, March, 1845 



MAJOR GENERAL JOHN THOMAS. 



The determination of the mind to relinquish the soft 
scenes of tranquil life for the rough adventures of war, is 
generally attended with the conviction that the act is 
laudable ; and with the wish, that its honorable exertions 
should be faithfully transmitted to posterity. These sen- 
timents lead to the cultivation of virtue ; and the effect 
of the one is magnified by the accomplishment of the 
other. 

In usefulness to society, the degree is inconsiderable 
between the conduct of him who performs great actions, 
and of him who records them ; for short must be the re- 
membrance, circumscribed the influence of patriotic exer- 
tions and heroic exploits, unless the patient historian re- 
trieves them from oblivion, and holds them up conspicu- 
ously to future ages. Whenever the images of the great 
men of the commonwealth are beheld, the mind is excit- 
ed to virtue. It cannot be the wax or the marble which 
possesses this power, but the recollection of their great 
actions kindling a generous flame in the breast, not to be 
quelled, till by virtue, equal fame and glory is acquired. 
Regretting as all do, that even the names, much less the 
deeds, of some of the principal actors in our contest 
for Independence, are scarcely known by their posterity. 



6 

I have been led to this, my present undertaking with the 
hope of contributing in some degree to repair the effects 
of this much lamented indifference. 

With this view, I am about to write the memoirs of 
the person whose name is at the head of this article. It 
is at once discovered that the task will not be easy in itself* 
nor will it be entirely satisfactory in the performance. 
The causes which render it difficult in this case, are no 
doubt, in some measure similar in ail like attempts. The 
companions of General Thomas, in civil, professional 
and military life, have long since passed away, more than 
sixty-eight years having elapsed since his death. The 
confidential officers about his person, at his death, in a 
foreign province, overcome with the event, and occupied 
with the necessary attention to their official duties, in an 
army prostrate with sickness of the most malignant kind 
and on a retreat in an enemies country, pursued by a welt 
appointed army flushed with success, and commanded 
by a consummate general, did not, and could not have giv- 
en that attention to the safe keeping of the private papers 
of their general, which would have aided in the perform- 
ance of the task imposed. 

On the part of his descendants it is admitted and re- 
gretted, that less care and attention has been given than 
should have been, to the preservation of those family re- 
cords and traditions, which would have gone far to have 
made this memoir the more complete and interesting, 
and rendered the life and services of their ancestor more 
conspicuous and useful. The apprehension which seems 
to have influenced them, that they might be considered 



desirous to blazon the fame of their ancestor, was not a 
sufficient reason or excuse, for they should have consid- 
ered, as they must have known, that he was an honored 
and cherished son of the Republic. They should have 
constituted themselves the guardians of his fame, as well 
for themselves, as fortheir country and future ages. B lit 
what would seem almost incredible, is, that not even a 
newspaper sketch has ever been published of the ser- 
vices of General Thomas, to which reference could be 
had. But the facts within reach, and which have come 
to hand, are such, that they cannot mislead. With the 
materials which remain, the undertaking will proceed, 
with the assurance, that biography shall not be turned to 
eulogy nor history to romance. 

General Thomas was of English descent. His direct 
ancestor arrived in the old colony of Plymouth in the 
year one thousand six hundred and twenty-one, the next 
year after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, and 
immediately took up his residence in the present town of 
Marshfield, in the county of Plymouth, where the sub- 
ject of this memoir was born in the year 1724. Of his 
first ancestor and his immediate descendants, little is now 
known further than that their time must have been prin- 
cipally occupied in obtaining the necessaries of life, food 
and raiment, in that then dreary and inhospitable wilder- 
ness. It is however known that his grand-father and 
father, who both bore the name of John, were substantial 
farmers and leading men in the town with the Winslows 
and Whites. 

After a suitable preliminary education, he became a 



8 

medical student with Dr. Cotton Tufts, of Medford, in 
the vicinity of Boston, a distinguished Physician ; for at 
that time there were no medical colleges in Massachusetts 
or New England. On completing his medical educa- 
tion, Dr. Thomas commenced practice in his native 
town, but in a few years removed to Kingston, in the same 
county, where he continued in his profession till his death, 
except when connected with the ormy. As a physician 
he was not only skilful, but eminently successful. In 
March, 1746, he was appointed and commissioned as 
second surgeon in a body of troops raised in Massachu- 
setts, to be stationed at Annapolis Royal. In February, 
1755, he was appointed Surgeon's mate in Shirley's regi- 
ment, but soon left the medical staff, and was appointed 
a lieutenant in the same regiment the same year. In the 
year 1759, he was appointed a colonel, and re-appointed 
to ihe same office 1760, by Governor Pownall of the 
Massachusetts government. Whether he ever served in 
any of the intermediate grades in the army does not ap- 
pear ; it is highly probable he did. It appears by his 
petition to the Governor and Council of Massachusetts, 
that he commanded his regiment part of both these years 
in Nova Scotia. In the year 1760, with his regiment, 
he joined the Anglo-American army at Crown Point, 
commanded by General Amherst, commander-in-chief of 
all the forces in North America. After the many defeats 
of the British and American arms, in the first years of the 
old French war, under the successive commands of 
Braddock, Shirley, Johnson, Lord Laudon and Aber- 
crombie, the energetic Pitt, then Prime Minister of En- 



9 

gland, withdrew them all, and called Colonel Amherst 
from the army in Germany, and promoted him to the 
•command in North America, with such men as Wolf 
Moncton, Townsend and Murray under him. 

This year completed the conquest of Canada, and in 
his well arranged plans and movements against Montre- 
al, where the whole force of the French in that province 
was assembled, Colonel Thomas had an honorable and 
important command. The celebrated Major Rogers? 
who commanded the partizan corps, called the Rangers' 
published a journal of all the campaigns of that war, 
which was printed in London in 1765 ; the volume is 
now rarely to be found and should be reprinted. The 
following is from his journal. " I remained at Crown 
Point with my people, without effecting anything consid- 
erable, more than small parties reconnoitering the coun- 
try about the Fort, while every thing was got in readi- 
ness for embarking the army on the 16th of August, 
£1760,] which was done accordingly,' having one brig, 
three' sloops, and four rideaux, which latter were occupi- 
ed by the Royal Train of Artillery, commanded by Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Ord, 

Our march was as follows, viz : six hundred Rangers 
and seventy Indians, as an advanced guard for the whole 
army, all in a line abreast, about half a mile ahead of the 
main body, followed by the light Infantry and Grena- 
diers in two boats abreast in each column, commanded 
by Colonel Darby. 

The right wing was composed of Provincials, com- 
manded by Brigadier Ru orgies, who was second in com- 
1* 



10 

nland of the whole army. The left was made up of the 
New Hampshire and Boston [Massachusetts] troops, com- 
manded by Colonel Thomas. The seventeenth and 
twenty-seventh regiments, with some few of the royals 
that formed the centre column, were commanded by Major 
Campbell, of the seventeenth regiment. Colonel Havi- 
land was in front of these divisions, between that and the 
light infantry and grenadiers. The royal artillery fol- 
lowed the columns and was commanded Colonel Ord, 
who had for his escort, one Rhode Island regiment of 
Provincials. The suttlers, &c. followed the artillery. 
In this manner we rowed down the Lake [Champlain] 
forty miles the first day, putting ashore where there was 
good landing on the west side, and there encamped. The 
following day we lay by. The ISth, the wind blowing 
at south, orders were given for embarking, and the same 
day reached a place on the west shore, within ten miles 
of the Isle a Mot, where the army encamped. It having 
blown a fresh gale most of the day, some of my boats 
split open by the force of the waves, and ten of my Rangers 
were thereby drowned. The 19th, we set sail early in 
the morning, and that night encamped on the north end 
of the Isle a Mot. The 20th, before day, the army was 
under way with intention to land ; having but twenty 
miles to go, and having a fair wind, we soon came in 
sight of the French fort, and about ten in the morning, 
Colonel Darby, with the grenadiers and light infantry, 
and myself with the Rangers, landed on the east shore, 
without the least opposition. 

Having done this, an officer was sent to acquaint 



11 

Colonel Haviland, who, with the remainder of the army, 
was at the place where we landed) that there was not the 
least danger to be apprehended from the enemy. The 
next day we began to raise batteries, and soon after threw 
some shells into the garrison. About the 24th, a propos- 
al was made for taking the enemies vessels, three of which 
were at anchor a little below the fort, and some of their 
rideaux likewise. It was introduced by Colonel Darby, 
who was ordered to take the command of the party ap- 
pointed for this service, which consisted of two compa- 
nies of Regulars, four companies of my Rangers, with 
the Indians. 

We carried with us two howitzers and one six pound- 
er, and silently conveying them along through the trees, 
brought them opposite the vessels, and began a brisk fire 
upon them, before they were the least apprised of our 
design, and, by good fortune the first shot from the six 
pounder cut the cable of the great rideaux, and the wind, 
being at west, blew her to the east shore, where we were, 
and the other vessels weighed anchor and made for St 
Johns, but got all aground, in turning a point about two 
miles below the fort. I was by Colonel Darby, ordered 
down the east shore with my Rangers, and crossed a riv- 
er about thirty yards wide which falls into Lake Cham- 
plain from the east. I soon got opposite the vessels, and 
by firing from the shore, gave an opportunity to some of 
my party to swim on board with their tomahawks, and 
took one of the vessels ; in the mean time Colonel Dar- 
by had got on board the rideaux, and had her manned, 
and took the other two ; of which success he immediately 



12 

informed Colonel Haviland, who sent down a sufficient 
number of men to take charge of, and man the vessels ; 
and ordered the remainder of the Rangers, Light Infant- 
ry and Grenadiers, to join the army that night, which 
was accordingly done ; and about midnight the night fol- 
lowing the French troops left the Island, and landed safe 
on the main, so that next morning nothing of them was 
to be seen but a few sick, and Colonel Haviland took 
possession of the fort. 

The second day after the departure of Monsieur Bon- 
ville and his troops from the Island, Colonel Haviland 
sent me with my Rangers to pursue them as far as St. 
Johns' Fort, which was about twenty miles further down 
the lake, and at that place 1 was to wait the arrival of the 
army, but by no means to follow further than that fort, 
nor run any risk of advancing further towards Montreal. 
I went in boats, and about day light got to St. Johns, and 
found it set on fire. I pursued and took two prisoners, 
who reported, " That Monsieur Bonville was to encamp 
that night about half way on the road to Montreal ; and 
that he went from St. Johns about nine o'clock the night 
before ; but that many of their men were sick, and that 
they thought "some of the troops would not reach the 
place appointed till the middle of the afternoon." 

It being now about seven in the morning, I set all 
hands to work, except proper guards, to fortify the log 
houses that stood near the Lake side, in order that part 
of my people might cover the batteaux, while I, with the 
remainder, followed Monsieur Bonville, and about eight 
o'clock I got so well fortified, that I ventured my boats 



13 

and baggage under the care of 200 Rangers, and took 
with me 400 together with two companies of Indians, and 
followed after the French army, which consisted of about 
1500, and about 100 Indians they had to guard them. 
I was resolved to make his dance a little the merrier, and 
pursued with such haste, that I overtook his rear guard a- 
bout two miles before they got to their encamping ground. 
I immediately attacked them, who not being above 200, 
suddenly broke, and then stood for the main body, which 
I very eagerly pursued, but in good order, expecting 
Monsieur Bonville would have made a stand, which how- 
ever he did not choose, but pushed forward to get to the 
river, where they were to encamp, and having crossed it 
pulled up the bridge, which put a stop to my march, not 
judging it prudent to cross at a disadvantage, inasmuch as 
the enemy had a good breastwork on the other side, of 
which they took possession ; in the pursuit, however, we 
considerably lessened their number, and returned in safety. 
In the evening Mr. Haviland came in sight, and land- 
ed at St. Johns. As soon as he came on shore, I waited 
on him and acquainted him with what I had done &c. and 
that I had two prisoners for him ; he said it was very well 
and ordered his troops to encamp there that night, and 
next day went down to the river Sorriel, as far as St. 
d' Etrese, where he encamped, and made a strong breast- 
work to defend his people from being surprised. 

I was sent down the river Sorriel, to bring the inhab- 
itants under subjection to his Britannic Majesty, and went 
into their settled country in the night and took all the 
priests and militia officers, and sent some of them for the 



14 

inhabitants. The first day I caused all the inhabitants 
near Chamblee to take the oaths of allegience, &c., who 
appeared glad to have it in their power to take the oath 
and keep their possessions, and were all extremely sub- 
missive. 

Having obliged them to bring in their arms, and ful- 
filled my instructions in the best manner I could, I joined 
Colonel Darby at Chamblee, who had come there to 
take the fort and had brought with him some light can- 
non.. It soon surrendered, as the garrison consisted 
only of about fifty men. This happened on the first of 
September. 

On the 2d., our army having nothing to do, and hav- 
ing good intelligence both from General Amherst, and 
General Murray, Mr. Haviland sent me to join the latter, 
while he marched with the rest of the army for La Pierm. 
The 5th., in the morning I got to Longville, about four 
miles below Montreal, opposite to where Brigadier Mur- 
ray lay, and gave him notice of my arrival, but not till 
the morning of the 6th., by reason of my arrival so late. 
By the time I came to Longville, the army, under the 
command of General Amherst, had landed about two 
miles from the town, were they encamped ; and early in 
the morning Monsieur de Vaudrieul, the Governor and 
Commander in Chief, of all Canada, sent to capitulate 
with our General, which put a stop to all our movements, 
till the 8th of September, when the articles of capitula- 
tion were agreed to and signed, and our troops took pos- 
session of the town gates that night. Next morning the 
Light Infantry and Grenadiers of the whole army, 



15 

under command of Colonel Haldiman, with a company 
of Royal Artillery, with two pieces of cannon, and some 
howitzers, entered the town, retaining the English col- 
ors belonging to Pepperill's and Shirley's regiments which 
had been taken by the French at Oswego. Thus at 
length, at the end of the fifth campaign, Montreal and 
the whole country of Canada was given up, and became 
subject to the King of Great Britain ; a conquest per- 
haps of the greatest importance that is to be met with in 
the British annals, whether we consider the prodigious 
extent of country we are hereby made masters of, the 
vast addition it must make to trade and navigation, or the 
security it must afford to the northern provinces of Amer- 
ica, particularly those flourishing ones of New England 
and New York, the irretrievable loss France sustains 
thereby, and the importance it must give the British crown 
among the several states of Europe. All this, I say, du- 
ly considered, will perhaps, in its consequences render 
the year 1760 more glorious than any preceding. And 
to this acquisition, had we during the late war, either by 
conquest or treaty, added the fertile and extensive coun- 
try of Louisiana, we should have been possessed of per- 
haps the most valuable territory upon the face of the 
globe, attended with more real advantages than the so 
much boasted mines of Mexico and Peru, and would 
have forever deprived the French, those treacherous ri- 
vals of Britain's glory of an opportunity of acting here- 
after the same perfidious parts they have already so often 
repeated." 

To the gallant and hardy soldier, Rogers adds the 



16 

reflections of the Statesman. On the 12th of Septem- 
ber, General Amherst, by a written order, directed Rog- 
ers to take two hundred men, and proceed to the French 
forts of Detroit and Michilimackina and all others in 
that direction, receive their submission and take posses- 
sion. In pursuance of this order, Rogers embarked at 
Montreal on the 13th of September, and in obedience 
to his orders traversed a country by land and water, 
filled with hostile Indians, and performed this service to 
the entire satisfaction of his commander. On his re- 
turn, January 23d, 1761, he reached the Ohio opposite 
Fort Pitt, from whence he ordered Lieutenant Mc Corm- 
ick to march the party across the country to Albany and 
came himself by the common road to Philadelphia, from 
thence to New York, where, after his long, fatiguing 
tour, he arrived on the 14th of February, 1761 ; which 
ends his journey and journal. He was engaged in this 
delicate and hazardous enterprize five months and one 
day ; the whole account is of great interest, even at this 
day, and is well and plainly related. 

The campaign of 1760 closed the military career of 
Colonel Thomas, as connected with the British crown, 
and many distinguished officers of that war, among 
whom was Major Robert Rogers. Major Rogers was 
a native of the interior of New Hampshire, the vicin- 
ity of Concord, and was the right arm of all the En- 
glish commanders who served in that war, obtaim- 
ed their entire confidence, and at the close of the 
war, was placed on half pay, and was employed in 
Canada, partly in a military, and partly in a civil 



17 

capacity, but soon went to England where he published 
his journal, of which the British reviewers of that day, 
say, " Journals of Major Robert Rogers ; containing an 
account of the several excursions he made, under the 
Generals who commanded on the continent of America, 
during the late war, from which may be collected the 
most material circumstances of every campaign on the 
continent, from the commencement to the conclusion of 
the war. The author writes like an honest, sensible, 
and modest man ; and has given, throughout his whole 
account, undoubted proofs that he is a brave and skilful 
officer. He headed with much reputation, the provincial 
troops called Rangers, during the whole course of what 
were called the French wars in America." 

On the authority of General Starke, who served under 
him during the whole French war, " Rogers was a man 
of great presence of mind, intrepidity and perseverance 
in the accomplishment of his plans ; and would no doubt 
have acted a distinguished part in the Revolution, had he 
chosen the side of the people. He was a man six feet in 
height, well proportioned, and one of the most active 
and athletic men of his time. The Indians entertained 
a great dread of him, and with very good reason." He re- 
turned to this country in 1775, and visited Cambridge 
and Medford, then occupied by the continental troops. 
Washington refused him permission to enter the camp, 
but Starke and others of his old companions in arms, visit- 
ed him at his Hotel at Medford. He afterwards joined 
Sir William Howe at New York, by whom he was 
appointed a colonel; but in a short time returned to 
2 



18 

England and never visited this country again. General 
Ruggles, was a distinguished lawyer, and many years a 
leading man in the Legislature of Massachusetts, but be- 
fore the Revolution voted and acted with the tories, and 
left the country when Howe left Boston, and never re- 
turned. Both Ruggles and Rogers, joined the British in 
the contest for Independence, and took an active part a- 
gainst their native country and in favor of the king to 
whom they had sworn allegiance. 

General Amherst, the commander-in chief in 1760, 
moved against Montreal with an army of all arms, 10,868 
effective, by Oswego over Lake Ontario, and down the 
river St. Lawrence, starting from Crown Point. Gen- 
eral Haviland moved from the same place, by way of 
Lake Champlain, as related by Rogers, with whom Rug- 
gles, Thomas and Rogers marched with a force of 3,500, 
ivhile General Murray led an army from Quebec against 
the same place amounting to 4,400 ; the whole three 
combined amounted to 18,748 effectives. The three 
armies arrived within striking distance of Montreal with- 
in twenty four hours of each other. Governor Vaudrieul 
at first determined to fight Amherst, but on ascertaining 
that Murray and Haviland had arrived, abandoned his 
first determination, and surrendered the city and Pro- 
vince on honorable terms for the military, and favorable 
to the citizens. General Amherst's military character 
must be generally known in America, but the origin and 
progress of his career, which led to the rank he attained 
and the esteem in which he was held, may not be famil- 
iar to the American reader. 



19 

He was the son or Jeffery Amherst, a distinguished 
Barrister at law ; and in 1731, at the age of fourteen, he 
entered the army as an Ensign. At the age of twenty- 
four, was aid to Lord Ligonier, at the battles of Itacoux, 
Dettengen and Fontenoy. Subsequently aid to the 
Duke of Cumberland, and with him at the battles of 
Laffieldt and Hastenbeck. In 1758, made Major Gen- 
eral and commander in America and took Louisburgh and 
Crown Point. In 1760, as has been seen took Montreal 
in which he discovered the prudent and consummate Gen- 
eral. In consideration of these services, was created 
Knight of the Bath, and made Governor of Virginia. In 
1763 he returned to England. In 176S, for a short time 
there was a coldness towards him on the part of the King, 
and he dismissed from all employment, but the same 
year he was restored to favor and received redoubled 
honors. 

In a few succeeding years he was Lieutenant General of 
ordinance, Governor of Guernsey, Commander-in-chief, 
sworn of the Privy Council, and Baron of Holmsdale in 
Kent, and last Baron of Montreal. In 1795, he was re- 
moved from command to make room for the Duke of 
York : on this occasion, an Earldom and rank of Field 
Marshal was offered him, but he declined them. But in 

1796, he received the Field Marshal's office, and died in 

1797, in the eighty-first year of his age, having served his 
country in every military grade more than sixty-six 
years, and received the highest honors that the country 
could bestow on a subject. His personal qualities were 
highly estimable : as a commander he was a firm and 
rigid disciplinarian, but ever the soldier's friend and ready 



20 

to hear and redress the complaints of those under him. 
The honor of the nation whose battles he fought, seemed 
to be the predominant principle of his military career. 
Lord Amherst had a brother who attained the rank of 
admiral of the blue ; and a brother William, who served 
under him in America, who attained the rank of Lieuten- 
ant General, aid de camp to the King, and Adjutant Gen- 
eral to his Majesty's forces. A pillar was erected at 
Montreal in Kent, to commemmoratean unexpected meet- 
ing of the three brothers in 1764, after a six years ab- 
sence, and of war, in which the three were successfully 
engaged in various climes, seasons and services. 

Lord Amherst lived to see the country for which he 
had fought, arrayed in arms against his king, and many 
who had served under him, high in command, and com- 
pelling a British army to leave Boston, and in possession 
of Montreal, his last conquest in this country. It was 
fortunate for America that he was not ordered to com- 
mand against her. Under such a leader Col. Thomas 
received his first lessons in war, and profited by his 
teaching. From this time to 1775, Col. Thomas con- 
tinued engaged in his profession at Kingston, where the 
revolution found him, in the enjoyment of domestic 
happiness, professional distinction, and well-earned mili- 
tary fame. 

In the month of February, the Provincial Congress 
passed the following resolution : "In Provincial Congress, 
Cambridge, February 9th, 1775: Resolved, That the 
Hon. Jedediah Preble Esq., Hon. Artemas Ward Esq., 
Col. Seth Pomery, Col. John Thomas, and Col. William 



21 

Heath, be, and hereby are appointed General Officers,'* 
The gallant and veteran General Preble, of Portland, 
father of the distinguished naval commander, Edward 
Preble, declined the service. It is believed he was 
induced to this course from his advanced age ; the others 
all accepted. The accurate biographer, Dr. John Eliot, 
in a note to a memoir of Gen. Sullivan, says of Gen. 
Thomas, " he was an officer who had acquired reputa- 
tion in the French War. He was one of the best officers 
in our army in 1775, and commanded the division 
nearest the British lines in Roxbury. A more brave y 
beloved and distinguished character did not go into the 
field, nor was there a man that made a greater sacrifice 
of his own ease, health and social enjoyments.'* Previous 
to the battle of Lexington, the Provincial Congress 
created the office of Lieutenant General, and appointed 
Thomas to the office, which gave him the rank of Pome- 
roy. Afterthe battle of Lexington, Ward was commander- 
in-chief, and had his head-quarters at Cambridge, while 
Thomas commanded on the Roxbury side as Lieutenant 
General. Soon after this, the Continental Congress 
assumed the army assembled at Cambridge, as the army 
of the United Colonies, and appointed the general officers 
to command the same. Among these, after Washington, 
were four Major Generals, eight Brigadiers, and an 
Adjutant. General. Ward being the only Major General 
Massachusetts was entitled to, Thomas should have been 
the first Brigadier of the army, and is so called in his 
commission, but the date gave Pomeroy and Heath pre- 
cedence. This difficulty, with others of a similar char- 
s' 



22 

acter, and the result of them, are explained by Washing- 
ton, in an extract from his first letter to Congress, dated 
Cambridge camp, July 10th, 1775. 

" I am very sorry to observe, that the appointment of 
General officers, in the provinces of Massachusetts and 
Connecticut, has not corresponded with the wishes or 
judgment either of the civil or military. The great 
dissatisfaction expressed on this subject, and the apparent 
danger of throwing the whole army into the utmost dis- 
order, together with the strong representations made by 
the Provincial Congress, have induced me to retain the 
commissions in my hands until the pleasure of the 
Continental Congress should be further known, except 
General Putnam's, which was given him the day I 
came to camp, and before I was apprised of these dis- 
gusts. 

In such a step, I must beg the Congress will do me 
the justice to believe, that I have been actuated solely 
by a regard to the public good. I have not, nor could 
I have, any private attachments — every gentleman in 
the appointment was a stranger to me, but from char- 
acter ; I must therefore, rely upon the candor and indul- 
gence of Congress, for their most favorable construction 
of my conduct in this particular. General Spencer's 
disgust was so great at General Putnam's promotion, 
that he left without visiting me, or making known his 
intention in any respect. General Pomeroy had also 
retired before my arrival, occasioned, as it is said, by some 
disappointment from the Provincial Congress. General 
Thomas is much esteemed, and most earnestly desires 



23 

to continue in the service : and as far as my opportunities 
have enabled me to judge, I must join the general opin- 
ion, that he is an able, good officer, and his resignation 
would be a public loss. The postponement of him to 
Pomeroy and Heath, whom he has commanded, would 
make his continuance very difficult, and probably oper- 
ate on his mind as the like circumstances did on that of 
Spencer." 

Washington, in a letter to General Schuyler, of July 
28lh, says, " The arrangement of general officers in 
Massachusetts and Connecticut, has been very unpopular, 
indeed I may say injudicious. It is returned to Congress 
for further consideration, and has much retarded my plan 
of discipline." 

Generals Wooster and Spencer were both senior to 
Putnam in the Connecticut state appointment, and by 
what fatality he was placed over them by the Continen- 
tal Congress, is hardly necessary to inquire at this time 
and in this place. Wooster and Spencer, probably, were 
never reconciled to their degradation, as they both event- 
ually resigned and left the service. 

The difficulty in Massachusetts, in the appointment 
of general officers, was entirely healed. General Pome- 
roy did not return to the army, and never received his 
commission, and the Congress passed a special resolve, 
that General Thomas should have precedence of all the 
Brigadiers in the army, in which decision, the army and 
the public fully acquiesced. 

But previous to the decision of Congress, Thomas had 
withdrawn from his command at Roxbury, concluding 



24 

that he could not in honor serve in an army, and be 
commanded by those whom he had so recently com 
manded. His intentions being made known, efforts from 
various quarters, to retain him in the army, were made, 
which have no parallel in the military annals of this 
country or Europe. 

"House of Representatives, Watcrtown, uly 22i, 1775. 

Sir, 

This House approving of your services in the 
station you were appointed to in the army by the 
Congress of this Colony, embrace this opportunity to 
express their sense of them, and at the same time to 
desire your continuance with the army, if you shall 
judge you can do it without impropriety, till the final 
determination of the Continental Congress shall be 
known with regard to the appointment of the general 
officers. We assure you that the justice of this House 
will be engaged to make you an adequate compensation 
for your services. We have such intelligence as affords 
us confidence to suppose, that a few days will determine 
whether any such provision shall be made for you as is 
consistent with your honor to accept, and shall give 
encouragement for you to remain in the service. 
By order of the House, 
JAMES WARREN, Speaker? 

General Thomas." 

The next effort to prevent General Thomas from re- 
signing, was made by General Lee, who at that time, as 



25 

a military gentleman, was considered by many as supe- 
rior to Washington, and it was the first time in his life 
he ever condescended to address any one in the language 
of entreaty. 

" July 23d, 1775. 
Sir, 

It is with the greatest concern that I have heard 
of your intention to quit the service of your country at a 
crisis when men of merit can be so ill spared. You 
think yourself not justly dealt with in the appointments 
of the Continental Congress. I am quite of the same 
opinion, but is this a time sir, when the liberties of your 
country, the fate of posterity, the rights of mankind are 
at stake, to indulge our resentments for any ill treatment 
we may have received as individuals ? I have myself, 
sir, full as great, perhaps greater reason to complain 
than yourself. I have passed through the highest ranks? 
in some of the most respectable services in Europe. 
According then to modern etiquette notions of a soldier's 
honor and delicacy, I ought to consider at least the pre- 
ferment given to General Ward over me as the highest 
indignity, but I thought it my duty as a citizen and 
asserter of liberty, to waive every consideration. On 
this principle, although a Major General of five years 
standing, and not a native of America, I consented to 
serve under General Ward, because I was taught to 
think that the concession would be grateful to his coun- 
trymen, and flatter myself that the concession has done 
me credit in the eye of the world j and can you, sir, born 



26 

in this very country, which a banditti of ministerial 
assassins are now attempting utterly to destroy with 
sword, fire and famine, abandon the defence of her, 
because you have deen personally ill used? 

For God Almighty's sake, for the sake of every thing 
that is dear, and ought to be dear to you, for the sake of 
your country, of mankind, and, let me add of your own 
reputation, discard such sentiments. Consider well the 
dreadful consequence such a pernicious example may 
occasion : consider well whether such a proceeding may 
not bring down upon your head the contempt and 
abhorrence of that community which has hitherto most 
justly held you in the highest estimation. 

I beg you will excuse the liberty I take in thus ad- 
dressing you ; and ascribe it to the true motive — a zeal 
for the public good, and the great regard I have for your 
personal self, and that you will believe me to be most 
sincerely yours, 

CHARLES LEE." 

General Thomas." 

The next effort made to retain General Thomas in 
the army, was by our own Washington, and he never 
made a greater. 

Cambridge July 23d, 1775. 
Sir, 

The retirement of a general officer, possessing 
the confidence of his country and the army, at so critical 
a period, appears to me to be big with fatal consequences, 
both to the public cause and his own reputation. Whil e 



27 

it is unexecuted, I think it my duty to make this last 
effort to prevent it ; and after suggesting those reasons 
which occur to me against your resignation, your own 
x virtue and good sense must decide upon it. In the 
usual contests of empire and ambition, the conscience of 
the soldier has so little share, that he may very properly 
insist upon his claims of rank, and extend his preten- 
sions even to punctilio : but in such a cause as this, 
where the object is neither glory, nor extent of territory, 
but a defence of all that is dear and valuable in life, 
surely every post ought to be deemed, honorable in 
which a man can serve his country. What matter of 
triumph will it afford our enemies, that in less than one 
month, a spirit of discord should show itself in the high- 
est ranks of the army, not to be extinguished, by any 
thing less than a total desertion of duty ? How little 
reason shall we have to boast of American union, of 
patriotism, if at such a time, and in such a cause, smaller 
and partial considerations cannot give way to the great 
and general interest ? These remarks not only affect 
you as a member of the great American body, but as an 
inhabitant of Massachusetts Bay, your own province, 
and the other colonies have a peculiar and unquestion- 
able claim to your services ; and in my opinion you can- 
not refuse them, without relinquishing in some degree 
that character for public virtue and honor which you 
have hitherto supported. 

If our cause is just, it should be supported ; but where 
shall it find support, if gentlemen of merit and experi- 
ence, unable to conquer the prejudices of a competition. 



28 

withdraw themselves in an hour of danger ; I admit, 
sir, that your claims and services have not had due 
respect — it is by no means a singular case ; worthy men 
of all nations and countries have had reason to make 
the same complaint ; but they did not for this abandon 
the public cause — they nobly stifled the dictates of 
resentment, and made their enemies ashamed of their 
injustice. And can America show no such instances of 
magnanimity? For the sake of your bleeding country, 
your devoted province, your charter rights, and by the 
memory of those brave men who have already fell in 
this great cause, I conjure you to banish from your mind 
every suggestion of anger and disappointment ; your 
country will do ample justice to your merits ; they 
already do it, by the sorrow and regret expressed on the 
occasion, and the sacrifice you are called upon to make, 
will, in the judgment of every good man, and lover of 
his country, do you more real honor than the most dis- 
tinguished victory. 

You possess the confidence and affection of the troops 
of this province particularly; many of them are not 
capable of judging the propriety and reasons of your 
conduct ; should they esteem themselves authorized by 
your example to leave the service, the consequences may 
be fatal and irretrievable. There is reason to fear it, 
from the personal attachments of the men to their 
officers, and the obligations that are supposed to arise 
from those attachments. But, sir, the other colonies 
have also their claims upon you, not only as a native of 
America, but an inhabitant of this province. They have 



29 

made common cause with it, they have sacrificed their 
trade, loaded themselves with taxes, and are ready to 
spill their blood in vindication of Massachusetts Bay, 
while all the security and profit of a neutrality has been 
offered them. But no arts or temptations could seduce 
them from your side, and leave you a prey to a cruel 
and perfidious ministry. Sure these reflections must 
have some weight, with a mind as generous and consid- 
erate as yours. How will you be able to answer it to 
your country and your own conscience, if the step you 
are about to take should lead to a dissolution of the 
army, or the loss and ruin of America be ascribed to 
measures which your councils and conduct could have 
prevented? Before it is too late, I entreat, sir, you 
would weigh well the greatness of the stake, and upon 
how much smaller circumstances the fate of empires has 
depended. 

Of your own honor and reputation you are the best 
and only judge ; but allow me to say, that a people con- 
tending for life and liberty, are seldom disposed to look 
with a favorable eye upon either men or measures whose 
passions, interests, or consequences will clash with those 
inestimable objects. As to myself, sir, be assured, that I 
shall with pleasure, do all in my power to make your 
situation both easy and honorable, and that the senti- 
ments here expressed flow from a clear opinion that your 
duty to your country, your posterity, and yourself, most 
explicitly require your continuance in the service. 

1 The order and rank of the commissions is under the 

consideration of the Continental Congress, whose deter- 

3 



so 

mination will be received in a few days. It may argire 
a want of respect to that august body not to wait the 
decision ; but at all events, I shall flatter myself that 
these reasons with others which your own good judg- 
ment will suggest, will strengthen your mind against 
those impressions which are incident to humanity, and 
laudable to a certain degree ; and that the result will 
be, your resolution to assist your country in this day of 
her distress. That you may reap the full reward of 
honor and public esteem which such a conduct deserves 
is the sincere wish of 
Sir, 
Your very 
Obed. and most humble Servant, 
GEORGE WASHINGTON." 
General John Thomas." 

" The Address of the Field Officers of the several 
regiments belonging to the camp in roxbury. 

To the Honorable John ThomaSj Esq. 
Sir, 

Your appointment as Lieut. General by the Pn>- 
vincial Congress, in consequence of which you took the 
supreme command in this camp, gave singular satisfac- 
tion to all acquainted with your character, both on 
account of your inflexible attachment to the liberties of 
your country, and your knowledge and experience in 
military movements ; and to your vigilance, prudence, 
and skilful management is to be ascribed in a great 
measure, that order and regularity for which this camp 



31 

has been celebrated, and which are essentially requisite 
to the very being of an army. To these important 
services you have the purest incense to a great and good 
mind j the unfeigned thanks of the officers and soldiers un- 
der your immediate command, as well as of every friend 
to his country, and the rights of mankind. We are pen- 
etrated with the deepest concern, that by an unfortunate 
concurrence of events, an arrangement is made, which 
leads you to think, that you cannot continue in the army, 
consistent with those delicate and refined sentiments of 
honor which are peculiarly and fitly characteristic of 
the soldier. We would not solicit you to do any thing 
derogatory to your reputation, or the rank you have for- 
merly sustained ; but as no man has so much endeared 
himself to the regiments which compose your brigade, 
as yourself, we earnestly request, that you would assume 
the command of it : — -that vast dignity and consequence 
of the cause we are contending for, may be more than 
a counterpoise to other considerations, of what nature 
soever, that your country may still be advantaged by 
your abilities ; and though mistakes are entailed to 
humanity, we doubt not the gratitude and justice of 
your countrymen, will reward you in some degree 
adequate to your merit. After all we submit the matter 
to your Honor's decision, asssuring you that although 
we shall part with you with regret, yet we will demean 
ourselves as becomes the soldier. 

In behalf of the within mentioned officers. 

THEO. COTTON, President: 1 
Roxbury, July 25th, 1775." 



32 , 

The above resolves, letters and addresses, had the 
desired effect, as might well be supposed, to retain Gen. 
Thomas in the army and prevent his resignation till the 
determination of the Continental Congress was known. 
The result was as we have seen a restoration to rank 
and command. In the battle of Bunker's or Breed's 
Hill, on the 17th of June, Thomas took no direct part, 
although his post at Roxbury, on the south of Boston, 
was cannonaded during the whole day of the battle ; 
and the original plan of the British was to approach his 
command, and take possession of Dorchester Heights. 

For on the augmentation of his forces in May, 1775, 
General Gage determined to occupy the heights of Dor- 
chester to the south, and those of Charlestown to the 
north of the town ; the occupation of these was not 
only necessary to the extension of his quarters, but 
indispensable to his holding them. It was therefore 
determined in the first instance to seize on Dorchester 
Heights, as they were the most commanding, and of 
easiest access to the Provincials. Agreeably to the plan 
concerted, Howe was to have landed at the point of the 
peninsula nearest the castle ; Clinton on the flat, between 
that place and Nook's Hill, whilst Burgoyne was to take 
post on the neck, and keep up a heavy cannonade on 
the camp at Roxbury, commanded by Thomas. From 
the strength, disposition and equipments of those corps, 
no effectual opposition could have been made to this 
operation of the royal army, and a few days more would 
have put it in possession of Bunker's Hill. 

The arrangements of General Gage, preparatory to 



33 

these meditated operations, necessarily attracted the 
attention of the inhabitants of Boston, and being com- 
municated to the Provincial Congress, they became 
jealous of some hostile movement, without being able to 
penetrate the object of it. They recommended to the 
council of war the fortification of Dorchester Heights 
and Bunker's Hill. The resolution of the council of 
war being taken, Colonel William Prescott, the hero of 
Bunker's Hill, was ordered to take possession of that 
height, which brought on the battle of the 17th of June, 
and prevented their taking possession of Dorchester 
Heights, which left that point open, and which Thomas 
afterward occupied with the happiest effect. 

June 17th., 1775, will always remain the proudest 
day in the annals of the arduous contest for Independ- 
ence, and Prescott and his companions in arms will 
always stand first. Warren, who fell nobly supporting 
the action, but as a volunteer and without command, was 
the favorite of the day, and for years engrossed the fame 
due to Prescott. But being really a great man, if alive, 
would disdain to wear laurels not his own. Warren's 
descendants well know their ancestor was not dependant 
on borrowed honors. " Prescott was the hero of that 
blood dyed summit — the midnight leader and guard, the 
morning sentinel, the orator of the opening strife, the 
cool and deliberate overseer of the whole struggle, the 
well-skilled marksman of the exact distance at which a 
shot was certain death ; he was the venerable chief in 
whose bright eye and steady nerve all read their duty ; 
and when conduct, skill and courage could do no more? 



34 

he was the merciful deliverer of the remnant. Prescott 
was the hero of the day, and whenever the tale is told, 
let him be its chieftain."* 

From Bunker Hill battle to March, 1776, General 
Thomas commanded the most exposed camp of the 
beseiging army, at Roxbury, and by constant vigilance 
preserved it from injury or insult. It having been de- 
termined to take possession of Dorchester Heights, 
which would bring on action or produce the evacuation 
of Boston by the British army ; on Monday the 4th of 
March, in the evening, these heights were taken posses- 
sion of by General Thomas with about twenty-five hun- 
dred men, and between three and four hundred carts 
with entrenching tools, and a train of carts with facines 
and screwed hay. 

The whole moved in solemn silence, and with per- 
fect order and regularity, while a continued roar of 
artillery from our lines served to engage the attention 
and divert the enemy from the main object. The 
amount of labor performed during the night, by this 
party, considering the earth was frozen eighteen inches 
deep, was almost incredible. 

On the morning of the 5th, the British saw^at once, 
there was no time to deliberate, Thomas must be remov- 
ed or Boston evacuated. The former was immediately 
determined on, and a tremendous cannonade was com- 
menced on our works from the forts in Boston, and the 
shipping in the harbor. During the forenoon an attack 

*Kev. Mr. Ellis. 



was hourly expected ; and nothing less than the car- 
nage of Breed's Hill anticipated. 

Daring this time Thomas was reinforced with 2,000 
troops, and the Commander-in-chief arrived and animat- 
ed and encouraged the soldiers, by reminding them that 
it was the fifth of March, the day of the Boston massacre 
which he recalled to their remembrance as a day never 
to be forgotten ; and in his own words, " An engagement 
was fully expected, and I never saw spirits higher, or 
more ardor prevailing." Our breast works were strength- 
ened, and among the means of defence were a great num- 
ber of barrels filled with stones and sand, arranged in 
front of our works, which were to be put in motion and 
made to roll down the hill, to break the ranks and legs 
of the assailants as they advanced. 

The anxious day passed without an attack, and a 
most violent storm the next day obliged General Howe 
to abandon the enterprize. On the 7th., there were in- 
dications that the British in Boston were preparing to 
evacuate the town, and on the 8th., they sent a flag of 
truce with the following paper, signed by the selectmen 
of the town. 

" As his Excellency, General Howe, is determined 
to leave the town with the troops under his command, a 
number of respectable inhabitants being very anxious for 
its preservation and safety, have applied to General Rob- 
inson, who at their request has communicated the same 
to General Howe, who has assured him that he has no 
intention of distressing the town, unless the troops under 



36 

his command are molested during their embarkation, or 
at their departure by any armed force without, which de- 
claration he gave General Robinson leave to communi- 
cate to the inhabitants. 

If such an opposition should take place, we have the 
greatest reason to expect that the town will be exposed to 
entire destruction. As our fears are quieted with regard 
to General Howe's intentions, we beg that we may have 
assurances that so dreadful a calamity may not be brought 
on by any measure without. As a testimony of the truth 
of the above, we have signed our names to this paper ; 
carried out by Messrs Thomas and Jonathan Amory, 
and Peter Johonnet, who have the earnest entreaty of the 
inhabitants, through the Lieutenant Governor, who soli- 
cited a flag of truce for this purpose. 

JOHN SCALLY, 
TIMOTHY MARSHALL, 
TIMOTHY NEWALL, 
SAMUEL AUSTIN. 
Boston, March 8th., 1776. 

Washington gave no answer to this informatocommu- 
nication of Howe's, or any assurance that the wishes of 
the inhabitants of Boston would be gratified, but acted in 
conformity to both, by letting Howe depart unmolested. 
General Thomas' own account of the transaction, in a 
letter to his wife, will be more acceptable to the reader, 
than anything that can be said by another. 



Dear Mrs. Thomas, 

We have for some time been preparing to take 
possession of Dorchester Point, and last Monday night? 
about seven o'clock, I marched with about three thou- 
sand picked men, beside three hundred and sixty ox teams 
and some pieces of artillery. Two companies of the 
train of teams were laden with materials for our works. 
About eight o'clock we ascended the high hills, and by 
day light got two hills defensible. 

About sun rise, the enemy and others in Boston, ap- 
peared on the tops of the houses and on the wharfs view- 
ing us with astonishment, for our appearance was unex- 
pected to them. The connonading which had been kept 
up all night from our lines at Lamb's Dam, and from the 
enemy's lines likewise, at Lechmere's Point, now ceased 
from these quarters, and the enemy turned their fire to- 
wards us on the hills, but they soon found it was to little 
effect. 

About ten o'clock we discovered large bodies of troops 
embarking in boats with their artillery, which made a 
formidable appearance. After some time they were put 
on board transports, and several of the ships came down 
near to the castle, as we supposed, with a design to land 
on our shore. 

Our people appeared in spirits to receive them. We 
were in a good posture of defence, and had two thousand 
men added to our number. The enemy viewed us criti- 
cally, and remained in that situation that night. The 
next day they came to sail, and returned to town and 
landed their troops. On Friday, about two o'clock, P. M. 



38 

they sent a flag of truce with a paper, a copy of which 
I enclose. 

I have had very little sleep or rest this week, being 
closely employed night and day. But now I think we are 
well secured. I write in haste, thinking you may be anx- 
ious to hear, as there is much firing this way. We lost but 
two men killed in all this affair. How things are in Bos. 
ton, or what loss they have sustained from our shots and 
shells, at present we are not informed, but I am sensible 
we distressed them much, from appearances. I have 
wrote you enclosed by the same hand, and am in haste. 

JOHN THOMAS. 

Dorchester Hills , in a small hut, March 9, 1776. 
Your son John is well and in high spirits. He 
ran away from Oakley privately, on Tuesday morning, 
and got by the sentries and came to me on Dorchester 
Hills, where he has been most of the time since." 

Mrs. Thomas' disobedient son John, had been left by 
his father, on Monday evening, when he marched for 
Dorchester Heights, in the care of his colored servant 
Oakley, who, no doubt, was instructed to keep him from 
mischief and danger, he being but ten years old. On 
Tuesday morning he found every thing in motion, and 
battle expected, where his father was to act a conspicuous 
part, considered it dishonorable to remain in retirement, 
hazarded his father's displeasure and sought the post of 
danger. Years had passed, young as he was, since he had 
heard his parents and neighbors express their indignation 
at every kind of oppression, whether civil or religious* 



39 

He Wight not have thought favorably of religious wor- 
ship dictated by act of parliament, or of taxation without 
representation ; he might have been so heretical as to 
have believed " that there might be a government with- 
out a king, and a church without a bishop." 

Whatever John's train of thinking was at the time 
which induced action, he made his appearance on Dor- 
chester Heights, and it is hardly worth the conjecture in 
what manner he was received by a gallant and affection- 
ate parent. John can now say more perhaps than any 
other man, that in the hour of clanger, and in expectation 
of close and stubborn action, " I stood fearless, by the 
side of George Washington and John Thomas." Of all 
Washington's military plans, none were better formed, or 
more skilfully executed than that of occupying Dorches- 
ter Heights, which drove the British from Boston. The 
selection of the officer and troops to carry it into effect 
were the best possible ; and nothing however minute, was 
omitted to secure complete success. Washington had 
been eight months in command, and no successful or 
brilliant operation had taken place under his immediate 
superintendence. People began to complain audibly, 
that he was not so desirous to take Boston as to prolong his 
command. They then did not know that he had fre- 
quently laid plans before his military council, to drive 
the British from that town, which were rejected on ac- 
count of the too great hazard supposed to attend them. 
This was the first of his plans which was adopted. The 
first part of it, was to compel retreat before the works at 
Dorchester ; the second, to enter the town of Boston' by 



40 

another body of troops, while the first part was in execu* 
tion. In a letter to Colonel Joseph Reed, afterwards 
President of the State of Pennsylvania, he says, " The 
four thousand men destined to take possession of Boston on 
the 5th, if the ministerialists had attempted our works at 
Dorchester Heights, or the lines at Roxbury, was to have 
been headed by General Putnam. But he would have 
had an easy time of it, as his motions were to have been 
regulated by signals, and those signals by appearances. 
He was not to have made the attempt, unless the town 
had been drained, or very considerably weakened of its 
forces." 

Congress were now looking for an officer to command 
the troops led into Canada by Montgomery and Arnold, 
and having been cautioned by Washington not to appoint 
General Putnam, for that service, they on the 6th of 
March, promoted General Thomas to the rank of Major 
General, and sent him to command in Canada. A letter 
from John Adams, then a member of Congress at Phila- 
delphia, of March 7th., to General Thomas, gives so 
correct a view of American affairs at that time, in that 
quarter, that it is here inserted. 

"Dear Sir, 

The Congress have determined to send you to 
Canada. They have advanced you one step by making 
you a Major General, and have made a handsome estab- 
lishment for a table. Your friends, the delegates from 
your native province, were much embarrassed, between 
a desire to have you promoted and placed in so honor- 



41 

able a command on the one hand, and a reluctance at 
losing your services at Roxbury and Cambridge on the 
other. But all agreed that you ought to be placed where 
you could do the most service, and Canada was thought 
by all to be very important, and by some the most im- 
portant post in America. You will have excellent 
advice and assistance in the committee we are sending, 
Franklin, Chase and Carrol. 

Walker, price and Bendfield,will be in Canada too, as 
soon as you. Generals Wooster and Arnold will give 
you the best information. The department to which 
you are destined has been in great confusion, and every 
gentleman who has come from there has a different 
account. General Schuyler, who is an honest man and 
a good patriot, has had a politeness about him towards 
Canadian and British prisoners, which has enabled them 
and their ministerial friends to impose upon him in some 
instances. This has occasioned some altercation be- 
tween him and General Wooster. Schuyler's head 
quarters will be at Albany, I suppose, and he will be of 
vast service, in procuring and forwarding supplies, and 
in many other ways in promoting the service. But his 
health will not permit him to go into Canada. I 
wish I could write you a volume, for to give you the 
characters of persons in Canada of whom we have heard, 
and some of whom we have seen, which would fill one. 
But these hints must suffice. 

Your humble servant, 

JOHN ADAMS. 
Let me beg of you to write me if you can spare 
4 



42 

time : It is of great importance that the delegates from 
New England should be truly informed of the course of 
things in Canada." 

General Thomas, while in his proud command at 
Dorchester, was • promoted, and appointed to a more 
extensive and important command, which proved disas- 
trous to his country, and fatal to himself. After seeing 
the British army and fleet leave his native province, he 
took his departure for Canada, the difficulty of travel at 
that season of the year, and other obstructions to his 
progress on the route, may be conceived, but a letter from 
the good patriot, General Schuyler, will more fully 
reveal. 

Saratoga, Friday Evening, 8 o'clock, March 29th, 1776. 

Sir, 

By a letter this moment received from my Secre- 
tary, I have the pleasure to learn you have arrived at 
Albany. Lest you should be induced by the hopes of 
still being able to cross the lakes on the ice to leave 
Albany, I send this by express to advise you of the im- 
possibility. Four companies are now lying about forty 
miles north of Ticonderoga, without being able to proceed, 
as a great part of the lake is open. I hope a few more 
warm days and high southerly winds will remove the 
obstacles. The first of the cannon will arrive at Fort 
George to morrow, and I hope the whole will be there 
by the middle of next week. Had a sufficient number 
of carriages been provided by the persons to whose 



43 

charge they were committed at New York, they would 
have been at Fort George on Monday. I propose doing 
myself the pleasure to see you on Sunday, or Monday at 
farthest, by which time I hope all will be in such a train 
as will leave me to return without anxiety. 

I am Sir, 
Your most obedient humble servant, 

PH. SCHUYLER." 
General Thomas." 

We see what Mr. Adams had so recently foretold, that 
Thomas might rely on the vast service Schuyler would 
render in procuring and forwarding supplies, and in 
promoting the service in many other ways. The 
promptness with which the above letter was written and 
forwarded by express, in the night, the important infor- 
mation given, and his determination to wait on his 
junior, for the purpose of giving further information, 
and congratulating him on his new and high command, 
as well as on the part he had recently taken in driving 
the enemy from the capital of New England, must have 
been highly gratifying to General Thomas, and cheered 
and consoled him in the anticipated roughness of his 
new and trying situation. They weie congenial spirits 
a nd the only contest or rival ship between them was, 
which should serve their country the most effectually 
and successfully. The accurate and faithful historian 
Judge Marshall, will be followed, in substance, in what 
relates to every thing of the army in Canada and General 
Thomas, until his death. " The season of the year now 



44 

approached when reinforcements from England would 
be certain, and notwithstanding the feeble state in 
which the army still continued, the Americans under 
Arnold deemed it indispensably necessary to recom- 
mence active operations, and to renew the siege of 
Quebec. They now again erected their batteries, and 
on the first of April, just as they were about to open 
them, General Wooster arrived from Montreal, and took 
the command. The next day the batteries were opened, 
without much effect. They had not weight of metal to 
make a breach in the wall, nor an engineer capable of 
directing a seige, nor artillerists who understood the 
management of the pieces. The few troops of this 
description originally belonging to the army were 
prisoners in Quebec. The day afier the arrival of 
Wooster, Arnold's horse fell with him, and so bruised 
his leg which had been wounded, as to confine him for 
some time to his bed. Believeing himself neglected, he 
obtained leave of absence as soon as he was able to 
move, and took command at Montreal. The true cause 
of Arnold's disgust, probably was his being superseded 
by Wooster, who he personally disliked. Some fire 
ships had been prepared both at Orleans, and Point aux 
Trembles, to be used against the vessels in the harbor 
-as soon as the ice would permit the operation. The 
difficulties usually attending such an enterprise were 
greatly augmented by the want of sailors, and of a 
skilful commander to conduct them. The attempt, 
however was made with great boldness, and the ship 
from Orleans very nearly succeeded. Coming from 



45 

below she was at first mistaken for a friend, and proceed- 
ed in the night, very near to the cul de sac where the 
vessels lay, before her character was discovered. The 
fire from the enemy instantly opened, on receiving 
which, the train immediately ignited ; but the sails 
caught the flames so quickly, as to loose the benefit of 
the wind, and stop the progress of the vessel, just at 
which time the ebb tide commencing carried her down 
the river. The American army which had been drawn 
up, prepared if this plan had succeeded to take advan- 
tage of the confusion it would occasion, had the mortifi- 
cation to witness its failure after the most sanguine and 
encouraging appearances. 

A considerable part of the army being entitled to a 
discharge in April, no inducements could prevail on 
them to continue longer in so severe a service. This 
deduction of General Wooster's force was the more felt, 
because of the present state of the roads ; the lakes and 
the St. Lawrence, impeded for a time, the arrival of 
reinforcements destined for his aid. The roads were so 
deep as to be nearly impassible, the ice had become too 
soft for the use of sleds, and had not broke up so as to 
admit the passage of boats. Among the first who 
reached the camp, in this state of things, was General 
Thomas, who, after his appointment to the command in 
Canada, had made great exertions to join the army. 
He arrived on the first day of May, and found his whole 
force to consist of nineteen hundred men, and less than 
one thousand fit for duty, including officers. Among 
the effectives were three hundred entitled to a discharge, 



46 

who refused to do duty. The sick were generally ill of 
the small pox, in the hospital. And this force was 
necessarily divided so as to occupy different posts which 
had been deemed necessary to maintain, at great distan- 
ces from each other, and on different sides of the St. 
Lawrence, so that not more three hundred men could be 
brought together at one point, which might be attacked 
by the whole force of the enemy ; and in all the maga- 
zenes there were but one hundred and fiftty barrels of 
powder and six days provisions ; nor could adequate 
supplies from the country people be relied on, as the 
Canadians no longer manifested a disposition to serve 
them. The river was beginning to open below, and no 
doubt could be entertained, that the first moment of its 
being practicable, would be seized by the enemy for the 
relief of this very important place. 

Amidst these unpromising circumstances, the hope of 
taking Quebec, appeared to General Thomas chimerical, 
and the longer continuance before the town useless and 
dangerous. The first reinforcements which should 
arrive from England, would deprive him entirely of the 
use of the river, and embarrass the removal of his sick 
and military stores. No existing object remained to 
justify the hazard. Under these impressions, General 
Thomas called a council of war on the 5th. of May, in 
which it was determined, that they were not in a condi- 
tion to risk an assault, and that the sick should be 
removed to the Three Rivers, and the artillery and other 
stores embarked in boats, in order to move with the 
army higher up the river to a more defensible position. 



47 

On the evening of the same day, certain intelligence 
was received that a British fleet was below, and the next 
morning five ships, which had with much labor and 
danger made their way up the river through the ice, 
before it was deemed practicable, appeared in sight. 
They soon entered the harbor, and landed some men, 
whilst the Americans were assiduously employed in the 
embarkation of their sick and stores, an operation car- 
ried on the more slowly, because the first appearance of 
the ships in the river deprived them of the aid expected 
from the teams and carriages of the Canadians. About 
one o'clock Carleton made a sortie at the head of one 
thousand men, formed into two divisions, and supported 
by six field pieces. No entrenchments had been thrown 
up for the support of the camp, and not more than three 
hundred men with one field piece could be brought into 
action. Thus circumstanced victory was scarcely pos- 
sible, and could have produced no important effect, as 
the enemy would immediately retire under the cannon 
of the town ; while defeat would certainly annihilate 
this little army. General Thomas therefore with the 
advice of the field officers about him, determined not to 
risk an action, and ordered his troops to retreat up the 
river. 

This was done with much precipitation, and many of 
the sick with all the military stores, fell into the hands 
of the enemy. Unfortunately, to their quantity were 
added two tons of powder just sent down by General 
Schuvler, and five hundred stand of small arms. 



48 

Much to the honor of General Carleton, he pursued the 
wise and humane policy of treating with great kindness, 
the sick and other prisoners, that fell into his hands. 
The falls of Richelieu had been contemplated as a place 
of great natural strength, which by being fortified and 
defended by a few armed vessels, might, in the event of 
failing in the attempt on Quebec, stop the progress of the 
enemy up the river, and thus preserve the greater part 
of Canada. General Montgomery had strongly recom- 
mended an early attention to this position, and it had 
been determined to fortify it ; but the measures resolved 
on, had not been executed. Some armed gondolas were 
building up the river, but had not been completed in 
time ; and in the present state of that place, it was en- 
tirely impracticable to maintain it. The ships of the 
enemy were pressing up the river, and were then at 
Jacques Cartier, about three leagues below De Chambeau, 
and, as they had no means of stopping them at the falls 
of Richelieu, would soon be above so as to subject the 
troops in their present position, to the same disadvantages 
to which they had been exposed before Quebec. 

The army therefore continued its retreat to De Cham- 
beau, where on the seventh, another council of war was 
called, in which it was agreed they should retire to the 
mouth of the Sorel. In pursuance of this advice, the 
remaining sick were moved up the river ; but General 
Thomas was determined to continue in his present posi- 
tion some time longer, by the information that large 
reinforcements were now passing the lakes, and might 
daily be expected ; but those reinforcements not arriving 



49 

as his intelligence induced him to hope, and the enemy 
advancing in force, he was obliged to retreat to the 
Socel, where he was seized with the small pox, of which 
he died. The Americans in general were by no means 
satisfied with the conduct of this gentleman. To him, 
in some measure, they attributed the disasters which 
ruined their affairs in Canada: but this censure was 
unjust 5 he took command of the army when it was too 
weak to maintain its ground ; when the time for saving 
the sick and military stores had passed away. The 
seige of Quebec instead of being persevered in longer, 
ought certainly to have been abandoned at an earlier 
period. 

It was the real fault of those who commanded at this 
station. It is to be ascribed to the reluctance always 
felt by inexperienced officers to disappoint the public 
expectation, by relinquishing an enterprise concerning 
which sanguine hopes have been entertained, even after 
every reasonable prospect of success had vanished : and 
to encounter the obloquy of giving up a post, although 
it can no longer with prudence be defended. In pursu- 
ance with which the seige of Quebec was maintained. 
These motives operated with all their force, and they 
received an addition, from the unwillingness felt by the 
Americans to abandon those of their friends who had 
taken so decided a part in their favor, as to be incapable of 
remaining in safety behind them. In April, when the 
troops left General Wooster, on the expiration of their 
enlistment, it seems surprising that he did not immedi- 
ately secure his sick and stores by a retreat up the riven 



50 

taken a strong position, and await the arrival of General 
Thomas. An unwillingness to disappoint public expec- 
tation, and the fear of meeting their temporary dis- 
pleasure, seems to have been the only, but insufficient 
reason. 

On the death of General Thomas the command of 
the army devolved on General Thompson ; but soon 
after General Sullivan arrived in the American camp> 
with reinforcements which increased the army to four 
or five thousand, and assumed the command. From 
this time retreat, defeat and misfortune followed the army 
m quick succession. After destroying some armed ves- 
sels on the Sorel and St. Lawrence, and burning the 
fortifications at Chamblee and St. Johns, he left Canada? 
although at the head of eight thousand men, and by 
order of General Schuyler took post at Crown Point, 
where he was superseded by General Gates. — Thus ter- 
minated the enterprise against Canada ; it was bold and 
at one period promised success. Had a few incidents 
turned out fortunately ; had Arnold been able to reach 
Quebec a few days sooner ; or to have crossed the St. 
Lawrence on his first arrival, or had the gallant Mont- 
gomery not fallen on the 31st day of December, it is 
probable the expedition would have been crowned with 
success. But as it would have required ten thousand 
troops to have retained possession of it, the expedition 
must now be viewed, as partaking more of the romantic 
than the useful. As it resulted it was unfortunate in 
every aspect in which it can be viewed. The loss of 
men by sickness and battle was great, as well as the 



51 

munitions of war ; to which may be added the loss of 
the two best Generals, Montgomery and Thomas, Con- 
gress sent into the field. All which were of the first 
necessity in defending the homes of the thirteen colonies ? 
rather than acquiring foreign provinces by conquest. 

On the eighth day of May General Thomas wrote 
Washington, communicating the intelligence of his 
having raised the siege of Quebec, and commenced his 
retreat. On the 24th of the same month Washington 
replied, " I received your favor of the 8th instant with 
its enclosures, confirming the melancholy intelligence I 
had before heard, of your having been obliged to raise 
the siege of Quebec, and to make a precipitate retreat 
with the loss of the cannon in the batteaux ? and inter- 
ception of the powder going from General Schuyler. 
This unfortunate affair has given a sad shock to our 
schemes in that quarter, and blasted the hope we enter- 
tained of reducing that fortress and the whole of Canada 
to our possession. From your representation, things 
must have been found in great, confusion and disorder, 
and such as to have made a retreat almost inevitable ; 
but nevertheless, it is hoped you will be able to 
make a good stand yet, and by that means secure a good 
part or all the upper part of the country. 

That being a matter of the utmost importance in the 
present contest, it is my wish and that of Congress, that 
you take an advantageous post as far down the river as 
possible, so as not to preclude you from a retreat, if it 
should be necessary, nor from getting proper supplies of 
provision. The lower down you can maintain a stand* 



52 

the more advantageous will it be, as all the country will 
most probably take part with us, from which we may 
draw some assistance and support, considering all below 
as entirely within the power of the enemy, and of course 
in their favor. This misfortune must be repaired, if 
possible, by our more vigorous exertions; and I trust 
that nothing will be wanting on your part or in your 
power to advance our country's cause." 

This was the last communication ever directed to 
General Thomas by his beloved commander or Congress, 
and it is doubtful if this was ever received by him. It 
admits the retreat from before Quebec to have been 
inevitable, but at the same time must have renewed in 
Thomas' mind what he before well knew, the great 
mortification such a step would occasion in the minds of 
Congress and his countrymen. This information, from 
such a source, must have been keenly felt by a mind 
like his, and at the same time, utterly beyond his power 
to apply an effectual remedy. 

With all the wisdom of Congress during our whole 
contest for independence, their seemed to be a delusion 
in their determination to take and keep possession of 
Canada. And Thomas must have felt that retreat, how- 
ever inevitable, would be viewed by them as disgraceful. 
On the 2d of June, 1776, at Chamblee, on the river 
Sorel, while anxiously awaiting the expected reinforce- 
ments, he died of the small pox, aged fifty-two years. 
The disease was so malignant that he was entirely blind 
some days before his death. And what is remarkable, 
he had in the course of his professional life, been 



53 

familiar with the disorder, and uncommonly skilful in 
its treatment, and yet had never taken it either by inoc- 
ulation or otherwise. He attained an enviable eminence 
in his profession in the section of the country of his 
residence. In his person he was six feet high, erect and 
well proportioned, so that Bis appearance was dignified 
and commanding. In his manners, affable, gentlemanly 
and of unaffected sincerity. He never lessened his 
character or martial fame by arrogance or ostentation. 

Granting to all the applause due to their merit, he en- 
joyed that due to himself with universal assent. As a 
disciplinarian he was correct, as the whole army bore 
witness. Among a body of undisciplined countrymen, 
assembled at the siege of Boston, he was the first to intro- 
duce order and regularity without severity, by the weight 
of his character. It does not appear, after he was ad- 
vanced to high command, either in the old French or 
revolutionary wars, that any opportunity was afforded 
him of being engaged in close action with the enemies 
of his country, but by the testimony of officers with him 
in both wars, he was cool and self-possessed in every 
emergency, and when action was fully expected, as at 
Dorchester Heights, his coolness and self-possession in- 
spired his troops with confidence, ardor and zeal for ac- 
tion, which Washington said he never saw surpassed. 
His perfect collection and soundness of mind to the end 
of his last sickness, was noticed by all his attendants, as 
has often been remarked by the late Hon. Joshua Thom- 
as, of Plymouth, then one of his aids, and long after dis- 
tinguished as an able and upright judge. 



54 

His letter to his wife, from Dorchester Heights, is a 
picture of the man. Not a word even to her, of the esti- 
mate in which he washeld by his commander, whose first 
trait of character was an intuitive knowledge of his fel- 
low men, and especially of those under him. Not an 
intimation that he was selected for that important and 
delicate service in preference to two Major Generals then 
in camp, to one of whom was assigned a secondary part to 
act. All this might have been mentioned to her without 
arrogance or boasting. Not a word of his courage, for no 
one ever doubted he possessed it, he simply tells her that 
John is safe, and only two men killed " in all this affair." 
But further particulars of his character and services are 
unnecessary, when it is recollected that he received par- 
ticular marks of favor, and especial confidence was re- 
posed in him by two of the first Generals of the age, 
Sir Jeffrey Amherst and George Washington. 

He married Hannah Thomas, of Plymouth, a woman 
distinguished for intelligence and general accomplish- 
ments. At the time of his marriage he was rather advan- 
ced in life. He left a wife, daughter and two sons, both 
the latter still survive ; one of them was with him at Dor- 
chester Heights. His wife lived to'an advanced age, and 
died in 1819, universally respected. This imperfect sketch 
is not only due to the memory of General Thomas on his 
own account, and the character of his respectable ances- 
tors and descendants, for his nobility neither began or 
ended with himself, but to the whole union, and espe- 
cially to the old colony of Plymouth, his native place. 
No section of New England was more distinguished for 



55 

intelligence, patriotism and unanimity in the cause of 
self-government in church and state, and for its able de- 
fenders in the cabinet and field, as the Cushings, Otis', 
Paynes and Warrens, in the councils of the nation, and 
the Thomases, and Lincolns, in the field, bear witness. 
Notwithstanding the loss of Thomas, the old colony pre- 
served its standing, for his mantle fell and rested on the 
brave and virtuous Lincoln. They were personally and 
intimately acquainted, as appears from business transac- 
tions between them a few days before the former left 
Cambridge for Canada, his last field. They were simi- 
lar in manners and character, and attained an equal 
standing in the estimation of their countrymen. Lin- 
coln's military career was longer and more varied. The 
first we he hear of him as a military character in the 
revolution, was in the capacity of Major General of Mili- 
tia of Massachusetts. On the 13th of June, 1776, he em- 
barked at the head of some Provincial troops and volun- 
teers at Long Wharf, Boston, to clear the harbor of a fifty 
gun ship, and several smaller armed vessels. He landed 
on Long Island, made arrangements for a vigorous can- 
nonade ; but a few shots soon convinced the British Com- 
modore of his danger, and he hastily abandoned the Bos- 
ton waters, never more to infest them. The acquain- 
tance which Washington had formed with Lincoln, while 
at Cambridge, induced him to recommend the latter 
to Congress, as a Major General, to which office he was 
appointed in February, 1777. In July of the same year, 
Washington sent him from the main army to join the 
northern army under Schuyler, because of the influence 



56 

■N 

he had in New England, and the confidence the militia 
placed in him, and the absolute necessity there was of 
sending a determined officer. He arrived at Bennington 
the day after Stark's victory. He immediately commenced 
operations in Bnrgoyne's rear, by sending Colonel Brown 
with 500 men to Lake George. He captured the fort 
and two hundred batteaux, with two hundred and nine- 
ty-three of the enemy and liberated one hundred Amer- 
ican prisoners. This raised the spirits of the northern 
militia. 

After some other operations he joined the army of 
Gates, to whom he was second in command. In a let- 
ter of the late General Ebenezer Mattoon, then a Lieu- 
tenant, of November 13, 1837, to the late Colonel John 
Trumbull, he says, "As to your enquiry about General 
Lincoln, in the action of the 7th of October on Bemus' 
Heights, I recollect our troops broke through the centre of 
the enemy's line, which left Lord Belcarras on our extreme 
right, in a very exposed situation. Early in the morning 
of the 8th, General Lincoln said to me, " my aids are all 
very busily engaged in writing, will you mount one of their 
horses and ride to the lines with me ?" I replied, " Sir, 
I will with pleasure." On the way he observed, " If the 
enemy have not changed their position during the night, 
I think Lord Belcarras can be cut off." We rode to the 
southerly part of our line, which extended northwardly 
a considerable distance, parallel with the enemy's, which 
lay east of us, and within long musket shot of where our 
army lay, secreted behind some logs laid up. The Gen- 
eral leaped his horse over the logs, and I followed him. 



57 

The enemy immediately opened a fire upon him, and as 
he rode northward the firing increased both from small 
arms and cannon. I rode at his left side, and regarded 
my situation as very hazardous. The fire increased as 
we advanced, and I remarked to the General, " Sir, your 
life is too dear to the army to be thus exposed." He 
made no reply, but looked at me and smiled, which I con- 
strued to mean, " You are more concerned about your- 
self than about me." We proceeded but a few yards 
further, when I saw him shudder, and he said, the ras- 
cals have struck me." I enquired where, he replied, 
" In my hip I believe." I immediately turned my horse 
to his right, and found his boot perforated with a musket 
ball, and the blood flowing out profusely. I said it is 
your ancle Sir." *' Indeed," said he, " I thought it was 
my hip." This put an end to the reconnoisance, to my 
great satisfaction." 

This disabled him, and he was removed to Albany, 
and thence to Hingham. He joined the army again in Au- 
gust, 1778, but suffered for several years from the effects 
of the wound. The reputation of Lincoln now stood so 
high that the delegates in Congress from South Carolina 
requested that body to appoint him to the command of 
the Southern army, which was accordingly done, and 
he reached Charleston in December. Soon after his ar- 
rival at Charleston, General Robert Howe was defeated 
in Georgia, and the British took possession of Savannah. 
In March following General Ashe was defeated at Briar 
Creek, which deprived Lincolnof one fourth of his army. 

In June Lincoln attacked the enemies works near Stono 

5* 



53 

Ferry, and a warm action ensued. It was bravely fought, 
but not decisive. On this occasion, after being without 
sleep the previous night, he was ten hours on horse-back 
at one sitting. In September, Count D'Estaing arrived off 
Savannah, where Lincoln joined him. A siege ensu- 
ed which was too slow an operation for D'Estaing's 
temperament, he determined on an assault, against the 
opinion of Lincoln, as a few days would have put them 
in possession of the place. On the 9th of October, 
D'Estaing and Lincoln made the assault, leading in per^ 
son their respective columns. They nobly contented for 
possession of the town, and it was the bloodiest engage- 
ment of the Southern war, but less successful than 
bloody. The Count re-embarked his troops for the West 
Indies, and Lincoln re-crossed the Savannah, and made 
his head-quarters at Charleston. On the 30th of March 
General Clinton encamped in great strength, in front of 
the American lines. On the 10th of April, having com- 
pleted his first parallel, the garrison was summoned to 
surrender. On the 20th a second parallel was comple- 
ted and the garrison a second time summoned to surren- 
der, which was rejected. On the 8th of May a third 
summons was sent, and on the 11th the garrison surren- 
dered. It is conceded that great credit is due to Lincoln, 
for his judicious and spirited conduct in baffling for three 
months, the greatly superior forces of Sir Henry Clinton 
and Admiral Arbuthnot. Though Charleston and the 
army were lost, yet by their long defence, the British 
plans were retarded and deranged, and North Carolina 
saved for the remainder of the year 1780. So establish- 



59 

ed was the spotless reputation of the vanquished Gen- 
eral, that he continued to enjoy the undiminished respect 
and confidence of the Congress, the army and the Com- 
mander-in-chief." His exertions and fatigue during this 
campaign, were such as few constitutions would have 
been able to endure. He was on the lines night and day, 
and for the last fortnight never undressed to sleep. Hav- 
ing been exchanged for Major General Philips, he joined 
the army under Washington in the Spring of 1781, on 
the North River. When the army moved to Virginia, 
Lincoln conducted it on the route as Washington and 
Rochambeau preceded it and joined the army under La- 
Fayette and Steuben, then there. He commanded the 
centra] division of the army at the Seige of Yorktown. 
The duty of conducting the conquered army to the field 
where their arms were deposited, and receiving the cus- 
tomary submission, was assigned him. Immediately 
after this he was appointed Secretary of war, with the 
power to retain his rank in the army. At the end of two 
years he resigned this office. On the acceptance of his 
resignation, Congress passed the following resolve. ^Re- 
solved, that the resignation of Major General Lincoln, 
as Secretary of War for the United States, be accepted, 
in consideration of the earnest desire which he expresses, 
the objects of the war being so happily accomplished, to 
retire to private life ; and that he be informed, that the 
United States, in Congress assembled, entertain a high 
sense of his perseverance, fortitude, activity and merit- 
orious services in the field, as well as of his diligence, 
fidelity and capacity in the execution of the office of 



CO 

Secretary of War, which important trust he has dis- 
charged to their entire approbation." In 1787, he was 
commander of the troops sent to quell the famous Shay's 
Insurrection, which he happily suppressed during that 
severe winter, by his activity and prudence. The same 
year he was elected Lieutenant Governor. In 1789 was 
appointed Collector of the Ports of Boston and Charles- 
town, which latter office enabled him to repurchase that 
part of his patrimony he had been compelled to sell for 
the support of his family ; he was as humane as brave, 
in private life few men have been more respected, he was 
a practical and rational christian from his childhood up. 
The last and most important office he ever held, was 
that of Deacon in the Congregational church, of which 
the learned and pious Dr. Shute was pastor. This of- 
fice he held till his death, in the same church, formed on 
primitive, apostolic principles, in which the Elder or 
Teacher was considered and treated, only as first among 
equals. 

He was elected to this office by the brethren of the 
church, for his good report and wisdom, and his humility 
enabled him to perform all the duties of the office to the 
acceptance of the brethren. He would not have ac- 
cepted the office from any source less pure. He and his 
departed friend had hazarded their lives in defence of 
this principle in the church, as fully as for the right and 
ability of the people to govern themselves in civil affairs. 
They had no reverence for the assumed and usurped 
power of kings or prelates. 

They felt and knew that the union of church and 



61 

state, had brought on earth the greatest calamities ! It 
has proved the greatest misfortune to both, and history 
since has been a detail of the woes, crimes, cruelties and 
blood shedding it has caused. It has blunted and 
broken the heaven tempered weapons of the former, 
destined to reach and pierce the heart of every foe to 
man, perverted and corrupted its mightiest influences, 
seduced it from its appropriate sphere, from which it 
showered balm and healing, and benedictions on the 
nations, made its ministers hirelings and courtiers, and 
spell bound its power to bless and save. Since it has 
not been the chaste bride of Christ, but the prostitute of 
the world, the embrace has been fatal to its hopes and 
the accomplishment of its mission. He said his kingdom 
was not of this world, he desired not its aid or favor. It 
was instituted to confront the world, to rebuke its pas- 
sions, ambition, pride, selfishness, lust ; to fight against 
its powers, and the rulers of darkness and corruption. 
Its legitimate position is one of conflict with the world, 
till that shall be brought under subjection to the author- 
ity and reign of Jesus. Their union has been a con- 
tinual betrayal of his cause, and never will go forth 
victorious, attracting, charming, subduing all hearts by 
its beauty, love, sympathy, sublimity, till they are effec- 
tually and entirely separated. While Christianity is made 
to dance attendance on kings, to aid their ambitious pur- 
poses, to subserve their designs against the rights, welfare 
and dignity of man — while mixed up with their policy, 
and but the creature of their will and power, though 
she may lift high her mitred head in their courts, and 



62 

shine as bright as the sun in imperiaal gems and robe?, 
her true glory is departed ; her power has became weak- 
ness, and she has fallen. The kiss of Judas was em- 
blematic of this coalition and betrayal. The church 
and the world met together and kissed each other. In 
that kiss was poison and death ; the energies of the 
kingdom that bore in its bosom the salvation of man, 
were paralyzed and bound. She that was to lead cap- 
tivity captive, is herself a captive ; she that was to turn 
and overturn till he, whose right it is to reign, has ac- 
cepted terms of capitulation, thrown down her arms, 
and hushed her voice of censure and denunciation. 
She speaks only in silken tones, and lies quietly in the 
arms of the wicked one she was sent on earth to subdue. 
From that time the triumphant progress of Christianity 
was stayed. 

When she ascended the throne of the Caesars, she 
deserted her own. When a temporal sceptre was placed 
in her hand, she let fall that in which resided a portion 
of omnipotence. When crowned with the diadem of 
earth the glory of the Most High no longer irradiated 
her : the one of thorns was better. — Jesus on the cross 
thrills the heart of the world ; in palaces, clothed in 
purple, he can hardly reach it by the feeblest influence, 
and is nearly or quite powerless. If Constantine instead 
of taking the church under his protection, and loading 
it with wealth and favor, had kindled the fires of mar- 
tyrdom throughout his empire, he would much more 
effectually consulted its true interest. What propriety 
is there of uniting it to the state ! Is it not sufficient 



63 

unto itself! Has it not within itself all the resources 
requisite to fulfil its mission ! Can it not stand alone ! 
Why lean on an arm of flesh while that of the Almighty- 
is stretched forth for its defence. Why look for human 
aid, as though there was cause to fear for its security? 
It is built on the rock of ages! what need then of the 
sandy foundation of earth. Are not their proper spheres 
different ! One is instituted to protect man's temporal 
interests, the other to promote his spiritual welfare ; one 
to suppress and punish crime, the other to subdue pas- 
sion and purify the heart ; one deals with external acts, 
the other with inward feelings and motives; one labors 
to conform the individual to positive institutions, the 
other to subdue him to the laws of conscience and holi- 
ness. One strives, by its threatened evils to make him 
a contented and good citizen ; the other, by its promises, 
and mighty influences, to make him a happy being — an 
heir of life. 

The ends therefore proposed to be effected by each 
being so diverse, there seems much impropriety in their 
union, as there certainly has been evil and misfortune 
proceeding from it. Render unto Ceesar his due ; but 
let him not pervert to his own selfish purposes the things 
of God. Let him not seize on those divine truths and 
influences sent on earth for its redemption and make 
them contribute to its bondage, wrongs and degradation. 
What perversion ! The institution designed to reform, 
console and bless man, transformed into an instrument 
of despotism, seduced to throw a mantle of sanctity over 
the enterprises of kingly craft and policy. 



64 

This union has filled the world with infidels and 
scorners, associated the Savior with the scourgers of 
mankind, and excited against his religion the hatred of 
millions. Jesus has been looked upon as in fellowship 
and communion with tyrants, lending them aid in their 
warfare against human happiness, freedom and rights ! 
Was it not this union that converted Prance into a nation 
of infidels and atheists ? To gain confidence there as 
an honest friend of the people, it was deemed necessary 
to declare one's self an enemy of Christ. 

To gain attention as a philanthropist it was necessary 
to renounce his religion. Not without reason the church 
was deemed the most formidable obstacle to the progress 
of society, to the attainment of human freedom and 
rights. The altar and the throne must be involved in 
a common ruin. Such are the fruits of joining together 
what. God intended should be kept assunder. The 
Church and State must be divorced. The work has 
begun and must go on. The Church will be redeemed 
from its long captivity, take its appointed position in 
conflict with the world and go forth once more conquer- 
ing and to conquer. Then will return the days of the 
Most High ; then the power of the Gospel to regenerate 
and bless and save will be revealed, and the ministers 
of Jesus be clothed with salvation ; and the hearts of 
all men be drawn unto him, and the dark clouds of cen- 
turies be broken and scattered. The necessity of this 
separation is felt by his true friends every where, and 
they are preparing themselves for the battle. Long and 
firm may be, must be the struggle ; but that success will 
finally attend their efforts admits not a doubt. 



65 

He has promised to be with his faithful ones unto the 
end of the world, and he surely will be with them in 
their toils, sufferings and sacrifices to free the Church 
from its thraldom, and to rescue his cause from subser- 
viency to the pride, folly and ambition of its rulers and 
governments. 

Thomas and Lincoln could hardly have considered 
themselves and countrymen as contending against that 
oppression which arises directly from a union of Church 
and State, for their ancestors had left England to avoid 
it, and been protected in the full enjoyment of them by 
their charter and the approbation of Oliver Cromwell, as 
great a man as ever swayed the sceptre of England. 
They themselves had been educated in these principles, 
and no part of the United States has preserved the sim- 
plicity and purity of Church government, together with 
right of private judgment in religious concerns, and the 
sufficiency of the Scriptures in every thing connected 
with religion, than the people of the old colony of Ply- 
mouth. How then must these good men, long since 
ascended, have been moved, to have known that the 
declaration had been publicly made in the presence of 
their descendants, and by a prelate, " That there could 
not be a church without a bishop," and that bishop to 
prove his regular descent from Papal Rome. The above 
incident has been the occasion of the foregoing remarks. 

But to return, and to close — it is not only safe to 
imitate such men as Thomas and Lincoln, but praise- 
worthy to emulate their virtues and patriotism. 



COLONEL THOMAS KNOWLTON. 



Colonel Knowlton was descended of respectable 
English ancestors, who Were among the first settlers ot 
Massachusetts, where Thomas was born, November, 
1740, in the town of Boxford, county of Essex ; from 
whence he removed, when a lad, with his father, to the 
town of Ashford, in the Province of Conneticut. 

Before he was sixteen years of age he enlisted as a 
private soldier in the Old French war, and continued in 
the army between three and four years, during which 
time he was promoted to the respective offices of Ser- 
geant, Ensign, and Lieutenant. During this war he 
was engaged in several close actions, in one of which he 
came in contact, hand to hand, in the woods, with a 
French officer, when he flung down his musket and 
closed in with him, they both fell, the Frenchman 
uppermost, but Knowlton extricated himself and suc- 
ceeded in taking the life of his adversary. 

He was in the action of August, 1758, when Major 
Rogers in command of five hundred Rangers, British 
and Provincials, was attacked when on his march in the 
wsods, by an equal number of French and Indians. 
Rogers in his account of the battle, says, "Major Put 



67 

nam being in front of his men when the fire began, the 
enemy rushed in, took him, one lieutenant, and two 
others prisoners, and considerably deranged others of 
the party, who afterwards rallied and did good service, 
particularly Lieutenant Durkee, who, notwithstanding 
his wounds, one in his thigh and the other in his wrist, 
kept in the action the whole time, encouraging his men 
with great resolution and earnestness. In short, officers 
and soldiers throughout the detachment behaved with 
such vigor and resolution, as in one hour's time broke 
the enemy and obliged them to retreat ; we kept the 
field and buried our dead. 

When the battle was over, we had missing thirty- 
three men. The enemy's loss was two hundred and 
forty killed on the spot, several of whom were Indians," 
In this action Knowlton belonged to Durkee's party of 
Provincials, and must have been exposed to the hottest 
fire of the enemy. 

After the capture of Montreal by Sir Jeffrey Amherst, 
in 1760, which closed the war in North America, one 
thousand Connecticut troops, under General Lyman, a 
brave and intelligent officer, went to the seige of the 
Havanas, which surrendered to the British arms in the 
year 1762. Lieutenant Knowlton was with Lyman in 
this expedition. At this seige there was much blood 
shed, but the Provincials did not arrive 'till a short time 
before the surrender, and suffered more from the climate 
than from the balls of the Spaniards. He was challeng- 
ed by a British officer on his way home from the 
Havana, in consequence of words spoken in a trifling 



68 

conversation, but no duel ensued, as the challenger pro- 
posed an adjustment of the affair, which took place 
before they landed, satisfactorily and honorable to 
Know! ton. 

On his return to Ashford, he married before he was 
twenty years old, and became a prosperous farmer, and 
at an unusually early age he became one of the fathers 
of the town, a select man ; in which occupation and 
office the battle of Lexington found him. On the news 
of this event, the militia company of Ashford, immedi- 
ately assembled, and Knowlton with his musket, with 
them, for the purpose of marching to the American camp 
at Cambridge. 

They were destitute of a captain, and by a unanimous 
vote elected Knowlton to the vacant office, which he 
readily and cheerfully accepted. At this occurrence, the 
mortification of the Lieutenant was so great that he 
declined marching with the company. This did not 
arise from want of capacity or patriotism on the part of 
Lieutenant Marcy, but the greater confidence they justly 
placed in Knowlton, arising from his former services, 
which they must have well known : and they had good 
reason to believe they would meet something very differ- 
ent from mere parade or children's play in the course of 
the expedition they were undertaking. 

Knowlton arrived at Cambridge previous to the battle 
of Bunker's Hill, in which action he took a conspicuous 
part. He was the only officer, except those from Mas- 
sachusetts, who had the honor to march with the gallant 
Colonel Prescott, on the evening of the 16th of June 



69 

1775, to take possession of, occupy and defend Bunker's 
Hill. He, with a double command of four lieutenants 
and one hundred and twenty men, had that honor? 
although the youngest captain of his regiment. 

The then estimate of his character as an officer and a 
gentleman, doubtless procured him that high distinction. 
His conduct the next day in battle, and his after con- 
duct, during his short military career of fifteen months, 
will show how well he sustained the estimate then 
formed of him. 

On that day, previous to the arrival of the gallant 
Stark with the New Hampshire line, he was ordered to 
take post at the extreme left of the rail fence towards 
the Mistic river ; Stark on his arrival in the afternoon 
occupied that part nearest the redoubt. Here, in their 
several positions, Prescott, Stark and Knowlton fought 
the battle independently of each other, although Prescott 
was senior and defended the most important post. Be- 
fore the rail fence, the two first attacks of the enemy 
were chiefly made, for the purpose of getting in the rear 
of Prescott and carrying his redoubt ; and here they 
suffered most severely, their dead covering the ground, 
and lying, as Stark often said, " as thick as sheep in a 
foal." In this action Knowlton nobly sustained himself, 
and lost more men than Prescott or Starke, according to 
the number he commanded, except the loss sustained by 
Prescott when retreating from the redoubt, when stormed 
by the British column which passed round on both sides 
of the redoubt, giving him an oblique fire, killing more 

than double the number killed in the action. 

6* 



70 

In this trying situation, Prescott abandoned his post 
for want of amunition, and support from his countrymen 
on Bunker's Hill within six hundred yards of him, and 
Stark compelled to follow him from the same cause, 
Knowlton was cool and self possessed. He retreated 
with young troops, in good order, with celerity and 
safety; the enemy being unloaded by their fire on 
Prescott. From this day he was justly considered the 
first officer of his grade in the army. He received from 
a gentleman of Boston, whose name is not now recol- 
lected, for his distinguished gallantry and good conduct 
at Breed's Hill, a gold laced hat, an elegant sash, and 
gold breast plate. The gold breast plate is now in 
the possession of a descendant. 

Colonel Aaron Burr, speaking of him, some few years 
before his death, said, " He received the full account of 
this battle from Knowl ton's own mouth, and he believed 
if he had the whole direction of the day, it would have 
resulted more fortunately. Its being objected that he 
should not be placed before Prescott and Stark, he 
observed that was not what he intended — but that an 
able and efficient officer was wanting to superintend the 
whole, as they, as well as Knowlton had their particular 
posts to defend ; and a great fault rested somewhere for 
not supporting them." It being then observed that the 
rapidity of his promotion indicated his merit, he replied, 
" it was impossible to promote such an officer too rap- 
idly." It has been justly said of those troops which 
could be induced to take part in the action that day — 
"The military annals of the word rarely furnish an 



71 

achievement which equals the firmness and courage dis- 
played on that proud day by the gallant band of Ameri- 
cans ; and it certainly stands first in the brilliant events 
of our war. When future generations shall invj.-.-e 
where are the men who gained the highest prize of glory 
in the arduous contest which ushered in our nation's 
birth, upon Prescott and his companions in arms will 
the eye. of history beam." 

Soon after this action Captain Kn owl ton was promo- 
ted to a majority, in which capacity he served during 
the seige of Boston, increasing in the esteem of his com- 
patriots in arms, and the confidence of the Commander 
in Chief. " On the 8th day of January, [1776] it having 
been determined to deprive the British of the houses in 
Charlestown, below Bunker's hill, a detachment was 
ordered for the purpose. One hundred men from the 
first brigade, a like number from Frye's brigade, with 
Captains Williams, Gould and Wyman ; Lieutenants 
Foster, Shaw, Patterson and Trafton, and Ensign 
Cheny ; the whole under the command of Major Knowl- 
ton, aided by Brigade Majors Henly and Carey. 

The detachment marched between eight and nine 
o'clock in the evening, and the object was effected with- 
out the loss of a man. Several British soldiers were 
taken prisoners. The garrison of Bunker's Hill works, 
commenced a brisk fire down the hill, towards the 
houses but no damage was sustained." 

Only those acquainted with the situation of Bunker's 
Hill and the places adjacent, at the time of this expedi- 
tion, can fully understand General Heath in his above 



72 

description, and the danger and delicacy of the operation 
assigned Major Knowlton. Knowlton had to pass from 
the main land in Charlestown, over the neck or low 
grounds and mill dams to this hill, partly below and 
around it and its garrison ; to fire many scattering 
houses, seventeen in the whole, and so to conduct and 
dispose his force as to secure a safe retreat, in a very 
dark night, at a time when the greater part of the 
British army were cantoned on Bunker's Hill. Both 
objects were completely effected under a brisk fire from 
the enemy's batteries, without the loss of a man. 

Lieutenant Trafton, of the party, observed many 
years after, M that it was considered at the time an opera- 
tion of great hazard, especially in securing a retreat ; but 
we had entire confidence in the officer commanding, that 
he could effect it if any officer in the army could do it. 
For myself, I had determined, rather than foil in the part 
assigned me — the burning of certain designated houses 
— to lose my life ; for our regiment was disgraced, on 
the day of Breed's Hill battle, by the conduct of our 
colonel, and I would not survive a personal disgrace." 
Lieutenant Trafton was afterwards promoted, and served 
through the war with the reputation of a brave and good 
officer. 

" On the evening when Major Knowlton set fire to 
the houses in Charlestown, the farce of the " Blockade 
of Boston," of which General Burgoyne was the reputed 
author, was performed. The figure designed to bur- 
lesque General Washington was dressed in an uncouth 



73 

style, with a large wig and long rusty sword, attended 
by an orderly sergeant in his country dress, having on 
his shoulder an old rusty gun seven or eight feet long. 
At the moment this figure appeared on the stage, one of 
the regular seargents came running on the stage, threw 
down his bayonet, and exclaimed, " The yankees are 
attacking our works on Bunker 's Hill" Those of the 
audience who were unacquainted with the different parts, 
supposed that this belonged to the farce; but when 
General Howe called out, " Officers to your alarm 
posts" they were undeceived ; all was confusion and 
dismay ; and among the ladies, shrieking and fainting 
ensued." 

After Washington obtained possession of Boston, and 
the army removed to New York, Knowlton was promo- 
ted to a Lieutenant Colonelcy. At all times enjoying the 
entire confidence of his commander ; who, when wish- 
ing to obtain an officer to pass from New York to Long 
Island, to gain accurate intelligence of the enemy's forces 
and situation in that quarter, consulted with Knowlton 
on the subject. The wishes of the Commander-in-chief 
were made known by him to a number of officers, with- 
out on his part, using any arguments for or against their 
undertaking it. This duty, no doubt, was performed by 
him in accordance with the previously received instruc- 
tions of Washington. Captain Nathan Hale of the Con- 
necticut line, a young gentleman of education and great 
promise, of his own mere notion, undertook it ; was cap- 
tured by the enemy and executed as a spy. Congress 
have recently erected a monument to his memory. In 



74 

the unfortunate and disastrous battle of Brooklyn Heights 
Knowlton by great effort and good fortune gained the 
American camp before the enemy with an overpowering 
force closed upon the American rear, thereby saving him- 
self and his command from being made prisoners with 
General Sullivan and Lord Sterling. The American 
troops were now withdrawn from Long and Governors 
Islands, and in a few days New York city evacuated, in 
a manner which shew they were overcome with their 
fears. On this occasion Washington's mortification was 
extreme, and his corn-patriot Greene said of him, " He 
appeared to seek death rather than life." In this condi- 
tion of the American army a halt was made at Harlem 
Heights and the Commander-in-chief regained his eajii- 
nimity, although the British in his front reached from 
the East to the North River, across the whole Island of 
New York. The night after the retreat, Knowlton at 
the head of one hundred and fifty Rangers was ordered 
to guard the American camp, and by his vigilance pre- 
vent the approach of the enemy unnoticed. The next 
morning, he commenced skirmishing with the enemy, 
the Commander-in-chief immediately rode to the advan- 
ced posts of the army, in order to make in person, such 
arrangements as this movement might require. Receiv- 
ing from Knowlton the probable numbers and position of 
the enemy, immediately reinforced him with a part of a Vir- 
ginia regiment under Major Leach, directed him to gain 
their rear, while he amused them with the appearance of 
making disposition to attack them in front. The plan 
succeeded, but Knowlton not kno wiring the precise situ- 



75 

ation of the enemy, commmenced his attack, rather on 
their flank than rear, when a very warm action ensued. 
In a short time Leach was carried from the ground mor- 
tally wounded, and soon after Knowlton fell. The ac- 
tion was continued by the Captains with great animation 
who were re-inforced, but to prevent a general engage- 
ment Washington recalled his troops to their entrench- 
ments. The British loss ii» killed and wounded was 
more than double that sustained by the Americans. 
Knowlton was the senior officer on the ground, he was 
conscious that his wound was mortal from the moment 
he received it, for to a soldier near him, who offered his 
assistance, he said, " Continue to do your duty in the 
action for you can do me no good." He was carried 
from the field in a waggon, and died in about an hour; 
in this time Washington saw him — regretted his situ a- 
tion and commended him for his gallantry and good con- 
duct on all occasions. What a moment for the death ot 
a hero ! assured of victory and the sincere condolence 
and approbation of such a man as Washington, the im- 
mortal Wolf might have envied him such a death. In 
general orders the next day, September 17th, Washing- 
ton says, " The General most heartily thanks the troops 
commanded yesterday by Major Leach, who first advan- 
ced upon the enemy, and the others who resolutely sup- 
ported them. Their behaviour yesterday was such a 
contrast to that of some of the troops the day before, as 
must show what may be done when officers and soldiers 
exert themselves. Once more, therefore, the General 
calls upon officers and men to act up to the noble cause 



76 

in which they are engaged, and to support the honor and 
liberties of their country. The gallant and brave Col- 
onel Knowlton, who would have been an honor to any 
country, having fallen yesterday while gloriously fight- 
ing, Captain Brown is to take command of the party late- 
ly led by Colonel Knowlton." Washington, in a letter to 
the President of Congress of the 18th of September reit- 
erstes his high opinion of Knowlton. 

In his person Colonel Knowlton was near or quite six 
feet high, erect and elegant in form, made for activity 
rather than strength. His education was respectable, 
although not collegiate. Pleasing in his address he nev- 
er failed of making himself acceptable to those with whom 
he associated. 

He never lessened his character by ostentation or self- 
complacency ; and all cheerfully granted him the ap- 
plause due to his merit. Always to be found where the 
battle raged, pressing into close action. An old soldier 
who served under him, said, " The Colonel was the 
mildest man he ever knew ; nothing of a rough or 
harsh nature ever passed his lips, so that he was univer- 
sally respected by those under his command, as well as 
by those associated with him in command." He left a 
widow and eight children, all of whom were respectable 
in society. His oldest son Frederick, was with him 
when he was shot, and died within a few years past. 

Sixty-eight years have elapsed since the death of this 
great and good man, who would have been an ornament 
to any country ; and what has been done by his country 
in justice to themselves, and in honor of his memory ? 



77 

Nothing. His -remains are interred within the city of 
New- York, and the place where, not difficult to be ascer- 
tained, even at this late day. Have the United States, 
in whose service he fell — the State of Connecticut, whose 
favorite son he was — or the City of New- York, on whose 
soil he bled, ever thought of erecting even a slab to his 
memory? We are compelled to give the mortifying 
negative to this inquiry.* 

*Bince writing the above, the Historical Society of the City of New- 
York have appointed a Committee, to ascertain where Knowlton 
fell, with the design of doing something in honor of his memory. 



ALEXANDER SCAMMELL. 



Doctor Samuel Leslie Scammell, the father of 
Alexander, arrived at Boston from Portsmouth, England, 
in the year 1733, and settled in that part of Mendon now 
Milford, Worcester county, Massachusetts : Dr. Scammell 
had two sons, Samuel Leslie, born in 1739, and Alex- 
ander born in 1744, and died in 1753, aged forty-five ; 
leaving his two sons in charge and under the care and 
guidance of the Reverend Amariah Frost of Mendon, 
the elder until he was qualified for the study of Physic, 
the younger until he was fitted to enter college. 

Mr. Frost was a most worthy Congregational minister 
and able instructor. He died at an advanced age in 
1792, after having had the satisfaction of seeing his 
wards distinguished in their respective professions, and 
at all times, with their friends, acknowledging their 
obligations to him for his fidelity to them, and his purity 
of character, and ability as a religious teacher. 

When the contest for self-government was approaching, 
no safer or more suitable instructor could be found than 
an educated New England clergyman. Alexander the 
subject of this notice, graduated at Harvard College in 



79 

1769, from whence he went to the county of Plymouth 
and taught school in the towns of Kingston and Ply- 
mouth. In the same year was formed, by the descendants 
of the first settlers of Plymouth, Isaac Lothrop, Pelham 
Winslaw, Thomas Lothrop, Elkanah Cushman, John 
Thomas, Edward Winslaw Jr., and John Watson, 
The Old Colony Club. The same year on the 22d 
day of December, was celebrated, for the first time, the 
landing of our forefathers, and in the evening the club, 
with invited guests, not members, joined the club, among 
whom, were the two grammar schoolmasters, Alexander 
Scamrnell and Peleg Wadsworth. Scammell and Wads- 
worth were classmates at Harvard. Gen. Wadsworth, 
late of Portland, Maine, was an active and brave officer 
of the revolution, and for many years after the war, an 
upright and intelligent member of Congress, 

In the year 1770, Scammell and Wadsworth both 
attended the anniversary of the club, by invitation, for 
neither of them appear to have been members. The 
celebration was concluded in the evening, by singing a 
song composed by Mr. Scammell. In 1771, Mr. Scam- 
mell, was, by his desire, unanimously voted in a member 
of the club. 

In 1772, he repaired to Portsmouth, N. H., where 
under the auspices of a cousin of his name in the 
employment of the government, he entered upon the 
business of surveying and exploring lands and of the 
royal navy timber. In the interval of suspended occu- 
pation, he kept school a short time at Berwick. He was 
one of the proprietors of the town of Shapleigh, Maine, 



80 

and Clerk of that Association. He assisted Captain 
Holland in making surveys for his map of New Hamp- 
shire. About this time, he appears to be serving on 
board the sloop of war Lord Chatham, bound from 
Piscataqua river to Boston, to send despatches, plans and 
reports to the lords of the Treasury. This vessel mounted 
several swivels, and carried small arms, and her place 
of rendezvous was Falmouth, now Portland. Previous 
to the revolution he entered on the study of the law with 
General Sullivan of Durham, N. H., whom he styles, 
"an excellent instructor and worthy patron." His 
worthy patron was a member of the Congress of 1774 
and 5, and the latter year was appointed a brigadier 
general by that Congress. 

Gen. Sullivan on accepting this appointment, would 
have been more than willing that Mr. Scammell should 
have remained in his office and taken charge of his legal 
business, which was extensive and lucrative. But when 
a whole people rose and took arms to claim and defend 
the right of self-government, a mind like Scammell's 
must have been elevated to grandeur in such a cause, 
and to have remained shut up in a law office, almost 
within sound of the enemy's artillery at Boston, would 
have been annihilation to him. He immediately joined 
the army at Cambridge, and .was appointed Brigade 
Major to Sullivan's Brigade. In this capacity he served 
during the siege of Boston, without any opportunity 
offering in which he or the Brigade were particularly 
distinguished. He served with the Brigade in 1776 



81 

and partook of all the disasters of the army in and 
about New- York. 

Sullivan had been promoted previous to the defeat of 
the army at Brooklyn, and whether Scammell was 
attached to his division at that time is not known, but it 
is certain he was not taken prisoner with him on that 
occasion. About this time he was promoted and attached 
to Lee's division and independant command before the 
close of the year, and the movements of Lee at this 
time, will be here mentioned, as Scammell's situation as 
Adjutant General gave him a perfect insight into the 
intentions of that erratick man, but able general. 

As soon as it was ascertained that General Carleton 
had abandoned all hostile intentions against Crown 
Point, and gone into winter quarters, in the month of 
October, Gates dismissed his militia, left Col. Wayne at 
Ticonderoga, repaired with his army to Albany, where 
he received the order of Schuyler to reinforce General 
Washington. A part of this force, Gen. St. Clair's com- 
mand, was directed to join Washington, but were inter- 
cepted by Lee and ordered to join his division. Lee at 
•this time was determined to increase his forces so as to 
be able to strike a successful blow on some of the enemy's 
cantonments, and not unite with Washington, as repeat- 
edly ordered. He ordered Heath, who commanded in 
the Highlands, to detach the better part of his forces, and 
place them under his command, which was refused, as 
contrary to his written orders from the commander-in- 
chief. Lee ordered Scammell, to perform this duty, and 

he would have been obeyed but for the timely and 

7 * 



82 

prudent interference of Gov. Clinton. Lee moved his 
force to Baskingridge,near Morristown. Here Major Wil- 
kinson, on his way from Gates to Washington called on 
him and shew him Gates' letter to Washington. Here 
he was called on by Scammell from Gen. Sullivan, who 
was encamped with the troops for orders of march on 
the 13th of December, 1776 ; Lee hesitated, asked for the 
manuscript map of the country, which was produced 
and spread upon the table ; Lee traced with his finger 
the route to Princeton ; after a close inspection said to 
Scammell, " Tell Gen. Sullivan to march down towards 
Pluckamin, that I soon will be with him." This was 
off the route he had been ordered to take, and directly 
on that towards Brunswick and Princeton, combine 
these circumstances with his letter to Gen. Gates, which 
was written that morning, and we have a clue to his 
views and designs. The letter was borne off by Major 
Wilkinson, unfolded, to Sullivan, and is as follows : — 

Baskingridge, Dec. 13th } 1776. 
My Dear Gates, 

The ingenious manoeuvre of Fort Washington* 
has unhinged the goodly fabric we had been building. 
There never was so damned a stroke. Entre nous, a 
certain great man is most damnably deficient. He has 
thrown me into a situation, where 1 have a choice of 
difficulties ; if I stay in this province, I risk myself and 
army ; and if I do not stay, the province is lost forever. 
I have neither guides, cavalry, medicines, money, shoes 
or stockings. I must act with greatest circumspection. 



Tories are in my front, rear, and on my flanks ; the mass 
of the people is strongly contaminated ; in short, unless 
something, which I do not expect, turns up we are lost ; 
our counsels have been weak to the last degree. As to 
what relates to yourself, if you think you can be in time 
io aid the General, I would have you by all means ; 
you will at least save your army. It is said that the 
Whigs are determined to set fire to Philadelphia ; if 
they strike this decisive stroke, the day will be our own ; 
but unless it is done, all chance of liberty in any part of 
the globe is forever vanished. Adieu my dear friend ! 
God bless you ! 

CHARLES LEE." 

At the moment this letter was finished Lee was sur- 
rounded by the enemy's horse, commanded by Col. 
Harcourt and captured with his aid. Wilkinson escaped 
by secreting himself in the house. Lee had not break- 
fasted, although it was ten o'clock in the morning, having 
been detained in writing the above letter and in an 
altercation with certain militia corps, particularly the 
Connecticut light horse, and the call of Scammell. Lee 
was hurried off, bare-headed, in his slippers, blanket 
coat and collar open. The capture of Lee, at the time, 
was felt as a public calamity, and cast a gloom over the 
country. He merited severe punishment for his neglect 
of duty and disobedience of orders, and received it from 
an unexpected hand. His offence was well understood 
in the army, and his misfortune unpitied by those who 
reflected on the cause of it. The tenor of Lee's letter 



84 

to Gates convicted him of discontent, insubordination 
and disrespect to Washington, but might have saved him 
from the suspicion of defection to the cause he had 
espoused. 

It is more than probable that Lee had come to the 
deliberate determination to violate his orders, trust to his 
fortune, tind hazard his fame on the issue of some bold 
enterprise. The officers about him believed that if Lee 
had not been made prisoner, he would have attacked 
the British post at Princeton the next morning, where 
the superiority of his force would have insured him suc- 
cess. He had reduced himself to the dilemma of abiding 
the sentence of a general court martial, for disobedience 
of peremptory orders, or by some daring and brilliant 
exploit excited such popular applause as would not only 
justify his offence, but give him the chief command. 
Sullivan on the receipt of the intelligence of Lee's cap- 
ture, immediately directed Scammell to alter the route 
of the army, so as to gain Washington without unne- 
cessary loss of time. This was done in time for him 
and his division to take part in the battle of Trenton 
and Princeton a few days after. Gates' division joined 
Washington, but he left the army without the knowledge 
or permission of Washington before the battles of Trenton. 
It will be seen that Wilkinson has been relied on 
principally for the above facts, and will be further made 
use of, with this acknowledgment. In this gloomy 
period of the revolutionary contest, it is impossible to 
pass unnoticed the American Chief. " Born with iron 
nerves, and an unbending dignity of port, which distin- 



85 

guished all his actions, and struck the most presumptuous 
with awe ; amidst these scenes, he was serene, tranquil 
and self-possessed, exciting the admiration of his fol- 
lowers, and exhibiting the example of a chief determined 
to brave danger and dare death in support of a just cause ; 
whilst the invincible firmness of Congress, exhibited the 
rare example of a popular assembly, united in principle, 
inflexible in purpose, and regardless of consequences. 
Not to one man then, but to such a Congress and such 
a Chief, supported by a handful of brave men who ad- 
hered to the cause of their country, are these United 
States indebted for the cheap purchase of their liberty 
and independence." 

No American should ever forget, that when our chief 
was deserted by his first and second in command, Lee 
and Gates, the former able and brave, the latter proud 
and vain, but both determined to disgrace him, and both 
foreign military adventurers, then was he nobly supported 
by real Americans, Sullivan, Greene, Mercer, Knox, 
Stark, Scammell, and many others equally brave and 
patriotic. And when Washington had determined to 
risk his life on the issue of his move upon Trenton, his 
army as nobly supported as he led. This should be a 
standing lesson to this country, never to place its des- 
tinies in the hands of foreigners, or suffer them to hold 
high places either in the civil or military department. 
The above is the more minutely narrated, because 
Scammell was in all these movements, the severest and 
most gloomy time of the revolution, both as to suffering 
and action. 



86 

Acting always with the main army or its great divi- 
sions, few materials respecting him as an individual are 
now left. And most of those few, his correspondence 
with his brother and relatives during the war, were 
many years ago handed to a gentleman in Boston, with 
the design of writing his memoir, who was fully com- 
petent to the performance, but whose death prevented 
the completion of the task he had assumed. This cor- 
respondence has never been recovered, and is now irre- 
coverably lost. This correspondence might now be of 
great interest, as his situation of adjutant general gave 
him an opportunity of being acquainted with the secret 
springs of all the movements in the army, and had 
prudence permitted him to have communicated them, as 
in many instances it might, its value must be seen and 
appreciated. 

In the campaign of 1777, he was placed at the head 
of the first regiment in the New-Hampshire line, at 
Ticonderoga, under General St. Clair and the Brigade 
commanded by General Poor. In the retreat of the 
army from that fortress to Saratoga, he partook of all its 
fatigues, deprivations and mortifications. In the first 
action against Burgoyne, fought by detached regiments, 
no general officer being on the field, commenced by 
Dearborn's light infantry and Morgan's riflemen, Scam- 
mell was closely engaged and wounded. After the 
surrender of Burgoyne, Poor's Brigade to which Scam- 
mell was attached, was ordered down the river to oppose 
Sir Henry Clinton who had captured forts Montgomery 
and Clinton, and was making further depredations on 



87 

the Hudson, but before its arrival Clinton had retired to 
New- York. From thence Poor's Brigade and other 
troops were ordered by Colonel Hamilton, who had been 
dispatched from Philadelphia by the Commander-in- 
Chief, for the express purpose, to join him. This order 
was not obeyed by the general commanding in the High- 
lands, so that Poor and the other reinforcements did not 
reach Washington in season to operate against Howe 
and compel him to surrender his army, as would have 
been the case, in all human probability, had these rein- 
forcements arrived in season, as ordered. This made a 
deep impression on the mind of Washington, and by 
letter of November 19th 1777, he says to the general 
commanding in the Highlands, " I could wish that in 
future my orders may be immediately complied with, 
without arguing upon the propriety of them. If any 
accident ensues from obeying them, the fault will be 
upon me and not upon you." The army was encamped 
in the vicinity of Philadelphia the ensuing winter, when 
Scammell was appointed adjutant general, Colonel Pick- 
ering having been promoted to the office of quarter 
master general. From this time to 1781, he continued 
in this office, and identified in all the movements of the 
main army. In the month of June 1778, the army left 
its cantonment and commenced pursuit of Sir H. Clinton, 
whose object was New- York city. Clinton's march was 
not a hurried one, for he consumed eight days in gaining 
forty miles, thereby embarrassing Washington by keeping 
him in ignorance of the route he would finally take. 
In this long march and subsequent battle at Monmouth, 



86 

Scammell performed all the duties of his important and 
responsible office to the entire approbation of the com- 
mander, and every individual in the army, for no one 
ever held that office, who was more beloved and 
respected. 

After the battle of Monmouth, he was directed by the 
commander-in chief, to place his old General, Lee, under 
arrest. The opinion of the army was divided as to the 
guilt of Lee on the charges preferred against him, except 
his disrespect to Washington. He might have been 
acquitted of the others had not Washington been con- 
sidered the complainant. This is rendered probable 
from the division in Congress on its approval of the 
sentence of the court martial, only seven states voting 
for approval. It seems at this day strange that so intel- 
ligent a court should have found the facts they did, and 
rendered the judgment of suspension for one year there- 
on ; when from the then existing rules and articles of 
war, he should have been shot. Scammell did express the 
opinion, in presence of many of the officers of the army, 
that Washington never had so fair an opportunity of gain- 
ing as decisive a victory over the enemy as at Monmouth, 
had Lee done his whole duty. This opinion, no doubt 
correct, had great weight in the army, and preponderated 
heavily against Lee. The main army in the years 1779 
and 1780, were in a good measure inactive, and gave 
time for them to consider and muse over their future 
prospects. Scammell in the few letters of his which 
remain and are to be found, addressed to Colonel Pea- 
body, a member of Congress from New-Hampshire, and 



a member of the military committee, are here inserted, 
which mark strongly the state of his own feelings, and 
that of the army. . 

Camp, Middle Brook, April 2d, 1779. 

Dear Sir, 

" Relying on your friendship, I must entreat you 
to assist me in procuring certain certificates and copies 
of receipts, which I find absolutely necessary in settling 
my accounts with the auditors, who are very strict. I 
have wrote Esq. Thompson particularly on the subject. 
Captain Gilman, the bearer, will likewise be able to let 
you into the matter circumstantially. 

I am almost tired of quarreling with Great Brit- 
ain — wish we could reduce them to reason, and a 
proper sense of their inability. They seem to be deter- 
mined to die in the last ditch, and that we shall feel the 
effects of disappointed malice the ensuing campaign. I 
further fear, that the war will doom me to old bachelor- 
ism — however, content myself with this consideration, 
that there is enough of the breed already, though this 
consideration don't fully correspond with my feelings on 
the opening of Spring. Let us establish our Indepen- 
dence on a lasting and honorable foundation, and I shall 
be happy at all events. It seems half pay for life, for 
the officers of the Pensylvania and Maryland line, is 
established by the respective states ; also half pay to the 
officers' widows since the war began. How this step 
will be looked upon by the other States, I can't say. 

This I will venture to affirm, that it would increase 

8 



90 

legitimate subjects to the States, as it would encourage* 
our officers, who have no wives, to marry, and proceed 
in obedience to the first command. At present, the 
young women dread us as the picture of poverty ; and 
the speculators, to our great mortification, are running 
away with the best of them, whilst we are the painful 
spectators of the meat being taken out of our mouths, 

and devoured by a parcel of — . Give my sincere 

compliments to inquiring friends— Mrs. Peabody in 
particular. 

Your friend, and humble servant, 
ALEXANDER SCAMMELL." 
Colonel Peabody." 

[Extract.] 
West Point, September 29th, 1779. 
" Does Congress mean to make the officers any 
permanent consideration? or do they intend to coax 
them on by doing a little and promising them a great 
deal, till the war is over, and then leave them without 
money, (consequently without friends ;) without estates, 
and many without property or constitutions, the two 
latter of which they have generously sacrificed in 
defence of their country. This is the language of the 
officers almost universally, from all the States. My 
station renders it my duty to make every thing as easy 
and quiet as possible. But I shudder at the consequen- 
ces, as I am convinced that in the approaching winter, we 
shall loose many of our brave officers, who must resign 
or doom themselves to want and misery by remaining 



91 

longer in the best of causes, and which in justice should 
entitle them to liberal considerations and rewards. That 
men who have braved death, famine, and every species 
of hardship, in defence of their liberties and righting for 
their country, should thereby be reduced to slavery, or 
what is equally bad, beggary, will be an eternal stigma 
upon the United States, and prevent proper men from 
ever stepping forth in defence of their country again. 
The bearer, Mr. Guild, a tutor in Harvard College, is 
an honest, clever, sensible whig ; whatever civility you 
show him will add an obligation on yours truly, 

A. SCAMMELL," 
Nathaniel Peabody, Esq." 

Head Quarters Steenrapie, near Hackensack Old Bridge, > 

Sept. 5 1780. 5 

u Dear Sir, 

I am extremely happy to have ocular demon- 
tion that you are well enough to brandish the goose- 
quill again. When I had the disagreeable news of 
your being dangerously ill, I wished to ride to Morris- 
town to see you. I attempted to write, but business 
permitted neither. 

" The army regrets the recalling decree of Congress, 
and that your committee should be absent from the 
army at this critical juncture, when famine daily extends 
her threatening baleful sceptre. What will be the con- 
sequence of the present system, of supplies? Are we 
to be in continual danger of a dissolution ? Must the 
United States of America, replete with resources — full 
of men, rolling in luxuries — strong in allies— entered on 



92 

the scale of nations under a solemn appeal to Heaven, 
languish in the field— her veterans fainting, her officers 
at the head of raw troops, obliged to risk their lives and 
reputation ; with troops counting the moments in pain- 
ful anxiety, when they shall return home and leave us 
with scattered ranks ? If the regiments are not filled 
for the war, our cause must fail, I am bold to pronounce. 
Not a continental officer, I fear, will be left in the field, 
if he must every six months, become a drill sergeant. 
It is too mortifying to risk a six years reputation with 
inexperienced troops. Our good and great general, I 
fear, will sink under the burthen, though he has been 
possessed of the extremest fortitude hitherto, which has 
enabled him to be equal to every difficulty, and to sur- 
mount what to human eye appeared impossible. But a 
continual dropping will impress a stone, and a bow too 
long strained, loses its elasticity. I have ever cherished 
hopes, but my patience is almost thread -bare. 

" We yesterday inclined to this place, and took a new 
position, about two miles from our former one, on the 
west side of the Hackensack. Our army is remarkably 
healthy, but frequently fasting without prayers. I con- 
dole with you on the disagreeable news from the south- 
ward, and lament the fate of so many brave officers and 
men. After suffering the extremes of hunger and fatigue) 
to be basely deserted by the militia, and pushed on to be 
sacrificed, is truly distressing. Hunger occasioned so 
great desertion, that their numbers were reduced to a 
handful in comparison with their numbers when they 
left Maryland. What demon could induce General G. 



93 

to advance so far towards the enemy with so few men ? 
And why did he retreat so rapidly, and leave his brave 
men behind? Wishing you a speedy and perfect re- 
covery of your health, I am, 

" Yours truly, 

« A. SCAMMELL. 

" Col. Peabody." 

The charge made against General Gates, of wasting 
camp divinity or courage, in the above letter, is sup- 
ported by General Greene, his successor, who was desi- 
rous of apologizing for his misfortune, but admitted that 
deserting his troops when engaged, under the pretence 
of rallying the militia, was fatal to his reputation as a 
general. It would have been most fortunate for the 
country, if Gates had been the only major-gen eral,du- 
ring the war of Independence, who was deficient in 
courage and conduct. Col. Scammell, from this time to 
the treason of Arnold and the execution of Andre, con- 
tinued in the discharge of the arduous duties of his office. 
On the day of Andre's execution the whole army was 
paraded and every general officer present and at his post, 
except Washington, who never saw Andre. On this 
solemn occasion, Scammel, as adjutant-general, superin- 
tended the execution. The following letter to Colonel 
Peabody, gives a strong and striking picture of the cha- 
racters of Arnold and Andre, as well as] the effect the 
treason had on his own mind and that of the army, at 

the time. 

8* 



94 

" Head Quarters, October 3, 1780. 
"Dear Sir, 

" Treason ! treason 1 treason ! black as h — 11 ! 
That a man so high on the list of fame should be guilty 
as Arnold, must be attributed not only to original sin 
but actual transgressions. Heavens and earth ! we were 
all astonishment — each peeping at his next neighbour to 
see if any treason was hanging about him : nay, we even 
descended to a critical examination of ourselves. This 
surprise soon settled down into a fixed detestation and 
abhorrence of Arnold, which can receive no addition. 
His treason has unmasked him the veriest villain of cen- 
turies past, and set him in true colours. His conduct 
and sufferings at the northward has, in the eyes of the 
army and his country, covered a series of base, grovel- 
ling, dirty, scandalous and rascally peculation and fraud ; 
and the army and country, ever indulgent and partial to 
an officer who has suffered in the common cause, wished 
to cover his faults : and we were even afraid to examine 
too closely, for fear of discovering some of his rascality. 
Now, after all these indulgences — the partiality of his 
countrymen, the trust and confidence the commander-in- 
chief had reposed in him, the prodigious sums that he 
has pilfered from his country, which has been indulgent 
enough to overlook his mal-practices,— I say, after all 
this, it is impossible to paint him in colours sufficiently 
i lack. Avarice, cursed avarice, with unbounded ambi- 
tion, void of every principle of honor, honesty, genero- 
sity or gratitude, induced the caitiff to make the first 
overtures to the enemy— as Andre, the British adjutant- 



95 

general, declared upon his honor, when on trial before 
the general officers. This brave, accomplished officer, 
was yesu^day hanged ; not a single spectator but what 
tpitied his untimely fate, although filled with gratitude 
for the providential discovery ; convinced that the sen- 
tence was just, and that the law of nations and custom 
of war justified and made it necessary. 

Yet his personal accomplishments, appearance and 
behaviour, gained him the good wishes and opinion of 
every person who saw him. He was, perhaps, the most 
accomplished officer of the age— he met his fate in a 
manner which did honor to the character of a soldier. 
Smith the man who harbored him is on trial for his life, 
and I believe will suffer the same fate. May Arnold's 
life be protracted under all the keenest stings and reflec- 
tions of a guilty conscience — be hated and abhorred by 
all the race of mankind, and finally suffer the excrutia- 
ting tortures due so great a traitor. 

I am in haste, 

Your friend and servant, 

A. SCAMMELL." 

Colonel Scammell's wish and prediction respecting Ar- 
nold, was fulfilled certainly in part, for he lived twenty- 
one years after his treason, in different parts of the world, 
hated and abhorred by all the race of mankind. 

One letter from the Colonel is here inserted, being the 
only one which has ever come to light. 

" New Windsor, March 9, 1781. 
Dear Sir. — 

I was very sorry to hear you passed by without 



96 

calling to see me. I hope before this you have pefectly 
recovered your health. Your friendship and anxiety for 
the good of the service, will perhaps make any intelli- 
gence from us by no means disagreeable. Now we have 
got a tolerable supply of provisions, we want men, no 
recruits have arrived yet, except a few stragglers. The 
•nemy are penetrating into the Southern States in sever- 
al parts, ravaging, plundering and destroying every thing 
their licentious, unprincipled murderers choose. Lord 
Cornwallis, after Morgan's victory, having divested him- 
self of all his baggage, made a most desperate pursuit 
after Morgan, but was providentially stopped short in his 
pursuit by the sudden rising of a river, occasioned by a 
heavy rain after Morgan had forded it. Cornwallis then 
changed his route, and pursued General Greene, who 
was obliged to retire before him, to the borders of Vir- 
ginia, nearly two hundred miles. The rapidity of the 
pursuit, and retrograde movement of our southern army, 
I believe prevented the militia of that thinly settled 
country, from reinforcing General Greene seasonably. 
However, by the advices this day received, Lord Corn- 
wallis was retiring, and General Greene, in turn, pursuing 
him. A pretty reinforcement is sent from Virginia to Gen . 
Greene, which, I hope, may arrive in season to enable 
General Greene to act offensively, unless Cornwallis is 
reinforced again. Arnold is speculating upon Tobacco 
and Negroes in Virginia. Another part of the army has 
landed in North Carolina. The Marquis had, by the 
last advices, arrived at the head of the Elk, with the 
light Infantry of our army. The Grenadiers and light 



97 

Infantry of the French army, I expect by this time, have 
joined him. I most devoutly wish, that the Marquis 
may ruin the traitor, and catch his party. 

We have been obliged to put much to the risk, on ac- 
count of the weakness of our corps. I hope for suc- 
cess — but it is wrong, exceeding wrong, that the Com- 
mander-in-chief, should be put to the dangerous ne- 
cessity of putting so much to the hazard for the safety 
of the Southern States. Had our regiments been filled 
agreeable to the requisition of Congress, Clinton would 
never have presumed to make such large detatchments 
from New York. I entreat you to make use of your ut- 
most influence to persuade the State to raise and send 
on their full compliment of recruits as soon as possible ; 
our situation, otherwise, will soon be very critical. 

I am, Sir, 
Your most obedient friend and servant, 
Col. Peabody. A. SCAMMELL." 

The above correspondence does great honor to the 
head and heart of Colonel Scammell. There is a vein 
of playfulness, with his old and personal acquaintance, 
but the main drift and object was to excite to those mea- 
sures which would secure a lasting and honorable peace. 

In July, 1781, before the army left the Highlands on 
the Hudson, to operate against New York or Yorktown, 
as circumstances would justify, Scammell at his own 
request, retired from the office he had so long and satisfac- 
torily filled, and took command of the light Infantry of 
the army. This corps was selected from the several 
New England regiments, consisting of the most active 



98 

and soldierly young men and officers, to march in advance 
of the main army, constantly prepared for active and 
hazardous service. The Colonel was indulged the 
liberty of choosing his own officers, rejecting those he 
deemed unfit for his enterprising purpose. This liberty 
he exercised to the annoyance of some colonels, especially 
Col. Jackson of Boston, but Scammell was strenuous 
and always prevailed. This indulgence on the part of 
Washington, was evidence of his desire not only to 
gratify the Colonel, but that his popularity and standing 
in the army was such, that it might be gratified without 
danger or inconvenience. At the head of this corps, 
Scammell marched with the army to the vicinity of 
New- York, where it joined the French army. While 
in this neighborhood the light infantry was constantly 
on the watch and alert to meet the enemy in West- 
chester, but the enemy were too circumspect to indulge 
them in their wishes while the combined army remained 
in the vicinity. On the march of the combined army to 
Yorktown in Virginia, headed, the one by Lincoln, the 
other by Viominil, Washington and Rochambeau having 
preceded their armies, the corps of light infantry were 
conspicuous. The French army as a whole were in 
better uniform, and perhaps in a more perfect state of 
discipline than the American, but no corps exceeded the 
light infantry, commanded by the long acknowledged, 
first officer of his grade in the army. 

During the siege of Yorktown he was mortally 
wounded and taken. Col. H. Lee of the American 
Legion, who was present gives the following account of 



99 

it, and his estimate of the man : a Comwallis, yielding 
to assurances, from Sir Henry Clinton, too solemn to be 
slighted, as well as in conformity to the spirit of his 
orders, renounced his intention of disputing the advance 
of his adversary ; and giving up his fortified camp, 
retired in the night to his town position, never doubting 
that the promised aid would start on the appointed day, 
and well assured if it did, he should be able to sustain 
himself until it appeared ; when presuming that a gen- 
eral battle would ensue, he considered it to be his duty in 
the meantime to preserve rather than cripple his force. 
His Lordship's conclusion was certainly correct>disastrous 
as was the consequence of his mistaken confidence. 
This nocturnal movement did not pass unperceived by 
our guards ; and Colonel Scammell, officer of the day, 
put himself at the head of a reconnoitering party with 
the dawn of light to ascertain its character and extent. 
Advancing close to the enemy's position, he fell in with 
a detachment of the legion dragoons, who instantly 
charged our party. In the rencontre Scammell was 
mortally wounded and taken. He soon expired. This 
was the severest blow experienced by the allied army 
throughout the siege : not an officer in our army sur- 
passed in personal worth and professional ability this 
experienced soldier. He had served from the commence- 
ment of the war in the line of New Hampshire, and 
when Col. Pickering, adjutant general of the army, suc- 
ceeded general Greene as quarter-master general, Col. 
Scammell was selected by the commander-in-chief to 
fill the important and confidential station — from which 



100 

post he had lately retired, for the purpose of taking an 
active part, at the head of a battalion of light troops, in 
the meditated operation." 

Col. Scammell did not die immediately of his wound, 
as might be supposed by the above account, but lived 
six days after. 

Dr. Thatcher, the surgeon of his regiment, says he 
was wounded after he surrendered. This fact could 
only be known from Scammell himself, and his surgeon 
might have been permitted to have seen him before his 
death, though he does not state the fact. At the request 
of Gen. Washington, Lord Cornwallis allowed him to 
be carried to Williamsburg, where he died, and where a 
monument is erected to his memory, 

" Which conquering armies from their toils returned, 
Rear'd to his glory, while his fate they moum'd." 

Col. Scammell in person, was exactly what could be 
wished, for the fatigues, pomp and parade of war, six 
feet and two inches in height, and not too mueh encum- 
bered with flesh. As an officer, he was intelligent, high- 
minded, honorable and brave. With an early and fin- 
ished education, his mind was combining and compre- 
hensive, decisive, prompt and energetic in action. 

In the social circle he was easy and even playful, and 
no officer could approach Washington so familiarly 
without offence. Of all the gentlemen, who held the 
office of adjutant general, among whom were those 
excellent officers and high-minded patriots, Pickering 



101 

and Hand, none had the entire confidence of the whole 
army in an equal degree. The common soldier, thirty 
and forty years after the close of the war, always spoke 
of him with delight, affection and respect ; declaring the 
army were always satisfied, whatever were their wants, 
deprivations or dangers, when the general orders con- 
cluded, " By his Excellency's command, Alexander 
Scammell adjutant general," it was sufficient for them 
to know that these two officers were in camp. Col. 
Scammell left no direct descendants, never having been 
married. But the children and grand-children of his 
brother are still living in his native town, highly 
respected. To show in what estimation he was held 
by his compatriots in arms, his name has been most 
honorably borne up, and could he know by whom, it 
would be a pleasing recollection : three officers of the 
revolution, his personal friends, and among the most 
intelligent and patriotic, gave his name to their sons. 
General Peleg Wadsworth, recently of Portland, of the 
same class at Harvard with him, gave his name to his 
son, the present distinguished Commodore Wadsworth 
of the American navy. 

Col. John Brooks, recently governor of Massachusetts, 
was the second who gave his name to his son ; the late 
Col. Brooks of the U. S. Army, distinguished for his gal- 
lant conduct, as an artillery officer at Plattsburg, and on 
several other occasions ; Col. Henry Dearborn of the 
Revolution, more recently Secretary of War and foreign 
Minister, was the third who honored his name in this way. 

9 



102 

This son is still alive, been Collector of the port of 
Boston, member of Congress, and adjutant general of 
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. These three 
lads, now passed the meridian of life, have not diminished 
the fame of the noble patriot whose name they bear. 
From the few materials, either written or traditionary, to 
which reference could be had, this imperfect sketch has 
been drawn. Although far from being full or satisfac- 
tory, it may be the means of preserving some memorial 
of the best of men, and one of the first, if not the very 
first and most accomplished officer of the revolution. 
Should our country ever again be involved in the evils 
of war, may those evils be diminished by its being con- 
ducted by such men as Alexander Scammell. 



GENERAL HENRY DEARBORN. 



General Dearborn's ancestors were among the first 
settlers of New Hampshire; for we find, as early as 1639, 
Godfrey Dearborn, his direct ancestor, with other emi- 
grants from Exeter, Devonshire, England, arrived at 
Squamscut Falls, now Exeter, New Hampshire, and join- 
ed the settlers at that place under the far-famed and much 
injured clergyman, John Wheelwright, brother of the 
celebrated Ann Hutchinson, who had been expelled the 
Province of Massachusetts on account of the Antinomean 
controversy. 

The settlers, judging themselves without the jurisdic- 
tion of Massachusetts, on the fourth day of May, 1639, 
combined into a separate body politic, and articles of a- 
greement were signed by thirty-five freemen, one of whom 
was Godfrey Dearborn. All laws were made in a popu- 
lar assembly. Treason and rebellion against the King, 
(who is styled the Lord's anointed,) or the country, were 
made capital crimes. This combination continued three 
years. 

Godfrey Dearborn soon after removed from Exeter to 
Winnicumet, now the town of Hampton, situated be- 



104 

tween Newberry, Massachusetts, and Portsmouth, New 
Hampshire, in the latter State, ten miles from his former 
residence ; where he purchased a large tract of land. A 
principal inducement with Mr. Dearborn and others for 
settling at Hampton, was the extensive salt marsh, which 
was extremely valuable, as the uplands were not culti- 
vated so as to produce a sufficiency of hay for the sup- 
port of the cattle. 

Henry, the son of Godfrey, who was a " man grown'' 
on his father's first arrival at Exeter, inherited the estate, 
which descended to his son John. Simon, the son of 
John, resided on the same place, had twelve children, the 
youngest of whom was Henry, born at Hampton on the 
23d of February, 1751, and is the subject of this sketch. 

Young Dearborn, after receiving that education which 
the best schools in New England afforded, commenced 
and finished his medical education under the instruction 
of Doctor Hall Jackson, of Portsmouth, who was a dis- 
tinguished surgeon in the army of the revolution, and 
justly celebrated as one of the most able physicians New 
England has produced. Dr. Dearborn was settled in the 
practice of physic at Nottingham -square, in New Hamp- 
shire, three years previous to the commencement of the 
revolutionary war, where, with several gentlemen of the 
neighborhood, he employed his leisure hours in military 
exercises ; being convinced that the time was rapidly ap- 
proaching when the liberties of this country must be eith- 
er shamefully surrendered, or boldly defended at the 
point of the sword This band of associates were deter- 



105 

mined to be prepared and equipped themselves for the last 
resort of freemen. 

On the morning of the 20th of April, 1775, notice by 
an express was received of the affair of the preceding 
day at Lexington. He, with about sixty of the inhabit- 
ants of the town, assembled, and made a rapid movement 
for Cambridge, where they arrived the next morning at 
sunrise, having marched a distance of fifty-five miles in 
less than twenty-four hours. After remaining several 
days, and there being no immediate occasion for their ser- 
vices, they returned. 

It being determined that a number of regiments should 
be immediately raised for the common defence, Dr. Dear- 
born was appointed a captain in the first New Hampshire 
regiment, under the command of Colonel John Stark. 
Such was his popularity, and the confidence of the public 
in his bravery and conduct, that in ten days from the 
time he received his commission, he enlisted a full com- 
pany, and joined the regiment at Medford, in the vicinity 
of Boston, on the 15th of May. Previous to the battle 
of Bunker Hill, he was engaged in a skirmish on Hog- 
Island, whither he had been sent to prevent the cattle 
and other stock from being carried off by the British ; 
and soon after, took part in an action with an armed 
vessel near Winnisimit ferry. 

On the morning of the glorious seventeenth of June, 
information was received that the British were preparing 
to come out from Boston, and storm the works which 
had been thrown up on Breed's Hill the night before, by 
the Americans. The regiment to which he was attached 



106 

was immediately paraded and marched from Medford, 
about four miles, to the scene of the anticipated attack. 
When it reached Charlestown Neck, two regiments were 
halted in consequence of a heavy enfilading fire thrown 
across it, of round, bar, and chain-shot, from the Lively 
frigate, and floating batteries anchored in Charles river, 
and a floating battery lying in the river Mystic. Major 
McClary went forward and observed to the commanders, 
if they did not intend to move on, he wished them to 
open and let Stark's regiment pass. The latter was im- 
mediately done. 

Captain Dearborn's company being in front, he march- 
ed by the side of Col. Stark, who, moving with a very 
deliberate pace, Dearborn suggested to him the propriety 
of quickening the march of the regiment, that it might 
sooner be relieved from the galling cross-fire of the 
enemy. With a look peculiar to himself, he fixed his 
eyes on Dearborn, and observed with perfect composure, 
" Dearborn, one fresh man in action is worth ten fatigued 
ones !" and continued to advance in the same cool and 
collected manner. 

When the regiment arrived at Bunker Hill, the enemy 
were landing on the. shore opposite Copp's Hill. At this 
moment the veteran and gallant Stark harangued his 
regiment in a short but animated address ; then directed 
them to give three cheers, and make a rapid movement 
to the rail fence which ran from the left, and in the rear 
of the redoubt toward the Mystic river. 

The redoubt was erected and commanded by the gal- 
lant Colonel Prescott. The action soon commenced, 



107 

and the Americans stood their ground until their ammu- 
nition was expended. Captain Dearborn was posted on 
the right of the regiment, which gave him a full and 
fair view of the whole action, and being armed with a 
fuzee, fired regularly with his men. After our troops 
retreated from the battle-ground and over the Neck, an 
occurrence took place which affected the whole army, 
and especially Captain Dearborn ; therefore, it will be 
given in his own words : 

" From the ships of war and a large battery on Copp's 
Hill in Boston,a heavy cannonade was kept up upon our 
line and redoubt, from the commencement to the close of 
the action and during the retreat ; but with little effect, 
except killing the brave Major Andrew McClary of Col. 
Stark's regiment, soon after we retreated from Bunker's 
Hill. 

" He was among the first officers of the army — pos- 
sessing a sound judgment, of undaunted bravery, enter- 
prising, ardent and zealous, both as a patriot and soldier. 
His loss was severely felt by his compatriots in arms, 
while his country was deprived of the services of one of 
her most distinguished and promising champions of 
liberty. 

" After leaving the field of battle I met him and drank 
some spirit and water with him. He was animated and 
sanguine in the result of the conflict for independence, 
from the glorious display of valor which had distinguished 
his countrymen on that memorable day. He soon ob- 
served that the British troops on Bunker's Hill appeared 
in motion, and said he would go and reconnoitre them, 



103 

to see whether they were coming out over the Neck ; at 
the same time directing me to march my company down 
the road toward Charlestown. We were then at Tuft's 
house near Ploughed Hill. I immediately made a for^ 
ward movement to the position he directed me to take, 
and halted while he proceeded to the Old Pound, which 
stood on the site now occupied as a tavern house, not 
far from the entrance to the Neck. 

u After he had satisfied himself that the enemy did 
not intend to leave their strong posts on the heights, he 
was returning toward me, and within twelve or fifteen 
rods of where I stood with my company, a random shot, 
from one of the frigates lying near where the centre of 
Craigie's bridge now is, passed directly through his body, 
and put to flight one of the most heroic souls that ever 
animated man. He leaped two or three feet from the 
ground, pitched forward, and fell dead upon his face. 
I had him carried to Medford, where he was interred, 
with all the respect and honors we could exhibit to the 
manes of a great man. He was my bosom friend ; we 
had grown up together on terms of the greatest intimacy, 
and I loved him as a brother." 

The New Hampshire line retired toward Winter Hill, 
and the others on to Prospect Hill. Strong advanced 
picquets were posted on the roads leading to Charlestown, 
and the troops, anticipating an attack, rested on their 
arms. 

Few events of moment took place in the army from 
this day till September, and none in which Captain 
Dearborn took part. In September he volunteered his 



109 

services to join the expedition of Arnold up the Kennebec 
river, and through the wilderness to Quebec. He was 
permitted to select a company from the New Hampshire 
regiment for this arduous service. 

Thirty-two days were employed in traversing the 
hideous wilderness, between the settlements on the 
Kennebec and Chaudiere river, during the inclement 
months of November and December, in which every 
hardship and fatigue of which human nature is capable, 
was endured indiscriminately by the officers and troops, 
and a considerable portion of them starved to death. 

On the highlands between the Kennebec and St. 
Lawrence, the remnant of provisions was divided among 
the companies, who were directed to make the best of 
their way in separate divisions to the settlements of the 
Chaudiere. 

The last fragment of food in most of the companies 
was soon consumed, and Dearborn was reduced to the 
extremity of dividing his favorite dog among his suffer- 
ing men. When he reached the Chaudiere, from colds, 
extreme hardships and want of sustenance, his strength 
failed him, and he was unable to walk but a short dis- 
tance without wading into the water to invigorate and 
stimulate his limbs. 

With great difficulty he reached a poor hut on the 
Chaudiere, when he told his men he could accompany 
them no further, and animated them forward to a glorious 
discharge of their duty. His company left him with 
tears in their eyes, expecting to see him no more. Dear- 
born was here seized with a violent fever, during which 



110 

his life was despaired of for ten days ; without medicine, 
and with scarcely the common necessaries of life. 

His strong constitution at last surmounted the disease, 
and as soon as he was able to travel he proceeded to 
Point Levy in a sleigh, crossed over to Wolf's Cove, 
and made his unexpected appearance at the head of his 
company, a few days before the assault on Quebec. At 
four o'clock in the morning, on the 31st day of Decem- 
ber, 1775, in a severe snow storm, in a climate that vies 
with Norway in tempests and intense cold, the attack 
was commenced. Captain Dearborn was attached to 
the corps under Arnold, who was wounded early in the 
action, and carried from the field. Lieutenant Colonel 
Green, the after hero of Mud Island and conqueror of 
Count Donop, succeeded in the command. They 
stormed the first barrier and entered the lower town. 
Montgomery had already bled on immortal ground, and 
his division having made a precipitate and most shameful 
retreat as soon as the General fell, the corps under Green 
was exposed to a sanguinary but unavailing contest. 

From the windows of houses, which being constructed 
of stone, each was a castle, and from the tops of the par- 
apets a destructive fire was poured upon the assailants, 
which threatened inevitable destruction to every one 
who should appear in the streets. The American troops 
maintained this desperate contest until at last they were 
reduced to the necessity of surrendering in small parties. 
The whole corps led on by Arnold, were killed or made 
prisoners of war. The officers were put in rigid con- 
finement, and every day were tauntingly told that in the 



Ill 

spring they would be sent to England and hanged as 
rebels. In May, 1776, Major Meigs, a virtuous citizen 
and gallant officer, and Captain Dearborn were permitted 
to return on parole. They were sent round to Halifax 
in the frigate Niger, and treated with the usual con- 
tumely and hauteur of English officers. 

On their arrival at Halifax they were put on board 
another ship of war, and the commander instructed by 
General Howe to land them in some part of New England. 
After the ship had cruised with them on board for up- 
ward of thirty days, during which period they met with 
the grossest insults, they were put on shore in Penobscot 
Bay, from whence they proceeded by land to Portland. 

In thefore part of March, 1777, Dearborn was ex- 
changed, and appointed Major to the third New Hamp- 
shire regiment, commanded by Alexander Scammell, 
and early in May following arrived with the regiment 
at Ticonderoga. Washington, in his letters to Congress, 
was urgent to effect the exchange of Meigs, Dearborn 
and Morgan — all of them, at that time, distinguished 
for their bravery and sufferings, and afterwards, in higher 
grades, for their capacity and intrepidity. Washington 
was rarely mistaken in his estimate of character, in civil 
or military life. 

On the 16th of July, the post at Ticonderoga was 
abandoned on the approach of Gen. Burgoyne's army. 
Gen. St. Clair retreated with the main body of the troops, 
by land, through Vermont to Hudson river, near Sara- 
toga, and soon after continued the retreat until the army 
had crossed the Mohawk river, near its junction with 



112 

the Hudson, where considerable reinforcements were 
met, and Gen. Gates assumed the command of the North- 
ern army. 

St. Clair, in this disastrous retreat, sent forward Major 
Dearborn to Gen. Schuyler, for the purpose of facilitating 
his retreat with the least possible loss, and to effect a 
junction with Schuyler in the best possible manner. 
Soon after the capture of the British detachment under 
Col. Baum, at Bennington, by Gen. Stark, the second in 
command at Bunker Hill, and who met the weight of the 
battle at Trenton ; and the retreat of Gen. St. Ledger 
from Foil Stanwix ; Gen. Gates advanced to meet the 
enemy, who was encamped near Saratoga. 

When the army arrived at Stillwater, a corps of light 
infantry was formed, by detachments from the line, con- 
sisting of five full companies, and the command given 
to Major Dearborn ; and in the opinion of the army, and 
the Adjutant General in particular, " a more vigilant and 
determined soldier never wore a sword." Dearborn had 
orders to act in concert with Col. Morgan's regiment of 
riflemen, which had joined the army a few days before. 
A strong position was selected, called Bemis' Height, and 
immediately occupied by the American army. 

The riflemen, and Dearborn's corps of light infantry 
encamped in advance of the left of the main line. The 
British army had advanced from Saratoga, and encamped 
on the bank of the river, within three miles of Gen. 
Gates' position. 

On the morning of the 19th of September, the advan- 
ced piquets announced that the right wing of the British 



113 

army was in motion, when Morgan and Dearborn, who 
commanded separate corps, received orders from General 
Arnold to make a forward movement, and check the 
approaching column. 

These orders were promptly obeyed, and the British 
advanced guard, consisting of tories and other irregulars, 
was soon met and attacked with spirit, in which conflict 
they killed and wounded a considerable number of the 
enemy, and made twenty-two prisoners. This charge 
was led (as General Morgan Lewis, who saw it from 
more elevated ground, informed the writer within a few 
years,) by Major Dearborn, "in the most gallant and 
determined manner." 

The action soon became general, and continued until 
the dusk of the evening, on the same ground on which 
it commenced ; neither party having retreated more than 
twenty or thirty rods, and that alternately, so that the 
dead of both armies were niingfei together. Dearborn 
with his light troops, covered the left of the main line, 
while Morgan covered the right. The loss was severe 
on both sides, and especially in the New Hampshire 
line. Lieutenant Colonels Adams and Colburn being 
killed, Dearborn was promoted to a lieutenant Colonelcy. 
As his light corps was constantly employed in recon- 
noitering, frequent actions occurred between the picquets 
and advanced parties of the enemy. 

On the seventh day of October, General Burgoyne 
having determined to make an extraordinary and last 
effort to gain possession of the American position, and to 
open a passage for his army to Albany, where he expec- 

10 



114 

ted to join the British forces then ascending the Hudson 
river ; at about one o'clock in the afternoon, advanced 
in force witli a fine train of artillery, and after driving 
jn the American picquets. appeared in full view on the 
left of General Gates' line, in open ground. Morgan 
and Dearborn were ordered by General Arnold in 
person, to advance, and hold the enemy in check. They 
advanced rapidly, and in a few minutes were engaged 
with the enemy, but soon after received orders to move 
in such a direction as to meet and oppose any body of 
the enemy that might be advancing to occupy an emi- 
nence which would give him the command of the left 
wing of the American army. In this movement a body 
of the British light infantry, about five hundred strong, 
under the command of Lord Bellcaras, was met, and 
instantly broke and dispersed by one fire and a gallant 
charge of the infantry. In the language of the Ameri- 
can adjutant general, Dearborn, at the moment when 
the enemy's light infantry were attempting to change 
front, pressed forward with ardor and delivered a close 
fire ; leaped a fence, shouted, and gallantly forced them 
to retire in disorder. Earl Bellcaras re-formed behind a 
fence, but being now attacked by Dearborn, Morgan, and 
the brigade of Poor, the whole British line, commanded 
by Burgoyne in person, gave way and retired to his 
camp. The riflemen and light infantry continued their 
pursuit until they arrived in the rear of the enemy's 
right wing. 

Morgan's troops now passed through the skirts of a 
wood, which brought him in the rear of the enemy's left 



115 

wing, while Dearborn bore down directly oh the rear of 
the right wing, where the British artillery was princi- 
pally posted, under cover of a body of German troops. 
Dearborn advanced rapidly up to the pieces, and when 
within about thirty yards, threw in such a tremendous 
and well-directed fire, as killed and dispersed the whole 
of the covering party, as well as nearly all the artillery- 
men. 

The artillery was immediately taken, together with 
Major Williams, the commander, and several other 
officers ; also Sir Francis Clark, one of General Bur- 
goyne's aids-de-camp, who was mortally wounded. He 
had just given orders for the removal of the cannon, and 
as he wheeled his horse to return, received the fire from 
Dearborn's corps. Colonel Dearborn sent the cannon 
and prisoners round the right of the British army to the 
American camp, then advanced in line within sixty 
yards of the enemy's rear, and poured in a full fire from 
his whole corps, which produced such an effect as com- 
pelled the enemy to abandon the field, with great pre- 
cipitation and disorder, and retire to their advanced 
fortified camp. In this retreat General Frazer was 
killed. 

The Americans immediately advanced upon the 
British, and while Arnold with Dearborn's corps and 
several regiments of infantry assaulted and carried the 
German fortified camp on the right, General Poor, with 
the New Hampshire line, attacked what was called 
Frazefs camp, which the enemy abandoned as soon as 
the German camp was carried. It was then nearly 



116 

dark. On the assault on the German camp, Arnold, 
who leaped his horse over the ramparts, received a 
severe wound in his leg, and his horse being killed at 
the same moment, fell on him. 

While Colonel Dearborn, who ran to him as soon as 
he fell, was assisting him from under his horse, he asked 
the General if he was badly wounded ; he replied with 
great warmth, " Yes ; in the same leg which was 
wounded at Quebec ; I can never go into action without 
being shot ; I wish the ball had gone through my heart." 

After taking care of the wounded, artillery- wagons, 
horses, tents, and baggage, the prisoners were sent to 
the American head-quarters, and the troops that had 
assaulted and carried the post, being relieved by others, 
at about twelve o'clock at night, marched into camp 
very much fatigued. 

Early next morning, Dearborn's corps, with about 
one thousand infantry, advanced over the field of battle 
into the rear of the enemy's main position, to prevent any 
attempt of Burgoyne's to retreat into Canada ; but as he 
did not move, this detachment returned to camp at dark. 
The next morning, it being ascertained that the enemy 
were retreating:, Dearborn was ordered to advance with 
his corps and a part of Morgan's regiment, and take 
possession of the British camp, with the sick and 
wounded, that had been left to the care of General 
Gates. 

The whole of the American army was soon after 
ordered to march ; but an unusually heavy rain prevent- 
ed this movement, and compelled General Burgoyne to 



117 

halt, mid encamp not more than eight miles from his 
former position. The rain continued without inter- 
mission until past the middle of the night. On the 10th 
of October, the American army marched in pursuit of 
General Burgoyne, with the light troops in front, and on 
the 19th the British army surrendered. 

General Gates, in his official report of the battles at 
Saratoga, mentioned in a particular manner the bravery 
and good conduct of Colonels Morgan and Dearborn. 
A few days after the capitulation, Dearborn's light infan- 
try was broken up, and the officers and men restored to 
their respective regiments. In the actions previous to 
the surrender of Burgoyne, the New Hampshire line 
under Poor acted a conspicuous part, and lost in action 
more in killed and wounded than any other corps of 
equal numbers ; three Lt. Colonels, Adams, Colburn and 
Conner, killed, and Colonel Scammel wounded. This 
brigade was composed of three regiments, commanded 
by Colonels Scammell, Reid and Cilley, all veteran and 
distinguished officers. Yet, as it may with some reason 
be supposed, too much credit is awarded it, it is proper 
to state that previous to the 19th of September, Van 
Cortland's and Livingston's New York regiments, at 
their own request, had been attached to Poor's Brigade ; 
and when they marched to join Washington in the 
vicinity of Philadelphia, Colonel Hamilton, who directed 
the march of the northern army to Pennsylvania, by the 
special direction of Washington, says these regiments 
did not wish to be separated from the Brigade or the 

Brigade from them ; they therefore marched under the 

10* 



118 

order of Poor, and hutted with him the ensuing winter 
at White Marsh ; and it is believed, fought with him at 
Monmouth the next summer. The State of New York 
had no General officer in the field in the actions against 
Burgoyne's army. General Schuyler had been with- 
drawn from the command of the northern army, after 
the success of Stark at Bennington, and the relief of Fort 
Stanwix by Arnold, under his auspicies, through the ill 
founded prejudices of a part of New York and a greater 
part of New England, though in every respect a superior 
man and abler officer than Gates. 

Generals George and James Clinton were below on 
the Hudson, in command of Forts Montgomery and 
Clinton, which they would have been able to have 
defended successfully and triumphantly against Sir 
Henry Clinton, had they not been controlled and thwart- 
ed by an incompetent General placed over them by 
Congress. The origin of the prejudice against Schuyler 
and St. Clair, was the abandonment by the latter 
General of Ticonderoga and Mount Independence, 
within the limits of Schuyler's command. The ridicu- 
lous story that both these Generals were traitors, at the 
time gained credit. " They were paid for their treason 
by the enemy's silver balls, shot from Burgoyne's guns 
into our camp, which were collected by St. Clair and 
divided between him and Schuyler." These officers at 
that time and ever after, in the opinion of Dearborn, 
were honest patriots and able generals. After being 
suspended from command for more than a year, with 
this odium upon them, they were brought before a 



119 

Court Martini, of which General Lincoln was President, 
and " acquitted unanimously with the highest honor on 
every charge." 

The grand object, the capitulation of Burgoyne, being 
obtained, the New Hampshire Brigade performed a 
march of forty miles, and forded the Mohawk river below 
the falls, in fourteen hours. The design of this rapid 
movement was to check the progress of a detachment of 
the British, commanded by Sir Henry Clinton, who 
threatened Albany with the same destruction which he 
had spread below ; but on hearing the fate of Burgoyne, 
he returned quietly to New York. When the badness 
of the roads at that time are taken into consideration, 
together with the fording a considerable river, with the 
usual amount of artillery and baggage- wagons, this 
march has never been exceeded, if equalled, in this 
country. But when the character of General Poor, and 
his subordinate officers, Scammel, Cilley, Reid, Dear- 
born, Van Cortland and Livingston, are taken into view, 
and the confidence such officers would inspire in troops, 
all the difficulties of such a march at once disappear. 
In the campaign of 1778, Lt. Col. Dearborn was 
attached to Ciiley's regiment ; and in that capacity was 
closely engaged with the enemy at Monmouth in June 
of that year. Among other measures which Washington 
took to check the advance of the British, he ordered 
Ciiley's regiment to attack a body of troops which were 
passing through an orchard on the right wing of the 
enemy. The regiment advanced under a heavy fire, 
with rapid step and shouldered arms. The enemy filed 



120 

off and formed on the end of a morass. The Ameri- 
cans wheeled to the right, received their second fire with 
shouldered arms, marched up within eight rods, dressed, 
and gave a full fire, and charged bayonet. The British, 
having sustained considerable loss, fled with precipitation 
across the morass, where they were protected by the 
main body of the enemy. Col. Dearborn was then dis- 
patched to the Commander-in-Chief, to ask what further 
service was required : when he approached, Washington 
inquired, with evident pleasure at their gallant conduct, 
tl What troops are those ?" " Full-blooded Yankees from 
New Hampshire, sir," replied Dearborn. Washington 
expressed his approbation in explicit terms, and directed 
that they should fall back and refresh themselves, as the 
heat was oppressive and the troops much fatigued. In 
the general orders of the next day, Washington bestowed 
the highest commendation on the brilliant exploit of the 
regiment. Colonels Wigglesworth and Bro«kes of the 
Massachusetts line, the latter of whom that day acted 
as Adjutant General to Lee's division, have often, in 
expressing their opinion of the conduct of this regiment, 
declared that their gallant and firm conduct was the 
salvation of the army, for at the moment every thing was 
retreat or confusion. 

In the campaign of 1779, Colonel Dearborn accom- 
panied General Sullivan's expedition against the Indians 
in the interior of New York, and had an active share in 
the action of the 29th of August, with the united forces 
of Tories and Indians, at Newtown. In 1780, he was 
with the main army in New Jersey. This year the New 



121 

Hampshire line lost by death their esteemed and respect- 
ed General Enoch Poor. He died of a fever, September 
9th. His funeral was the most magnificent and solemn 
which took place during the war. His corpse was 
brought from Paramus to the vicinity of the burying 
ground near Hackensack, when it was attended to the 
place of interment by a procession of a regiment of light 
infantry with arms reversed ; four field pieces ; Major 
Lee's regiment of light horse ; General Hand and his 
brigade ; two chaplains ; the horse of the deceased, with 
his boots and spurs suspended from the saddle, led by a 
servant ; the corpse, born by four sergeants, and the pall 
supported by six general officers. On the coffin, a pair 
of pistols and two swords crossing each other. The 
corpse wss followed by the officers of the New Hamp- 
shire brigade, and the officers of the brigade of light 
infantry, which the deceased had lately commanded. 
The officers of the army fell in promiscuously, the whole 
closed by his Excellency General Washington and 
Marquis La Fayette. Having arrived at the burying 
yard, the troops opened to the right and left, resting on 
their arms reversed, and the procession passed to the 
grave, when a eulogy was delivered by the Reverend 
Mr. Evans. A band of music, played a funeral dirge. 
The military being in complete uniform and well disci- 
plined, exhibited a martial and noble appearance. No 
scene can exceed in grandeur and solemnity, a military 
funeral. General Poor was a true patriot, who took an 
early part in the cause of his country, and during his 
military career, was respected for his talents and bra- 



122 

very, and beloved for the amiable qualities of his heart. 
But it is a sufficient eulogy to say, that he enjoy- 
ed the confidence and esteem of Washington. The 
New Hampshire line mourned his death as of a father, 
and must have been gratified by the respect shown his 
memory. General Poor and Colonel Dearborn married 
sisters. 

In 1781, he was appointed deputy quarter-master- 
general, with the rank of colonel, and served with Wash- 
ington's army in that capacity in Virginia. He was at 
the siege of Yorktown by the combined armies of Ame- 
rica and France, and the capture of Lord Conwallis and 
his army. At this siege, Colonel Scammel being killed 
in reconnoitering the enemy's position at the head of the 
light troops, Colonel Dearborn succeeded to the com- 
mand of the first New Hampshire regiment. 

In 1782, the New Hampshire line having been reduced 
to two regiments, were commanded by Colonels George 
Reid and Henry Dearborn. The former was stationed 
on the Mohawk, and the latter at Saratoga. In Novem- 
ber, Dearborn joined the main army at Newburgh, and 
remained with it till the peace of 1783. 

Having mentioned the names of George Reid and 
Henry Dearborn together, it may be noticed that they 
were born in the same county in New Hampshire, were 
both captains in Stark's regiment at Breed's Hill, and 
were the only two of thirteen captains in the regiment 
that day, who continued in the army to the close of the 
war, and promoted to the rank of colonel. 



123 

Reid was considerably the older man and now the 
senior colonel, having been promoted to a majority while 
Dearborn was a prisoner at Quebec. If Reid's early 
education and associations were less favorable than 
Dearborn's, as a military man he was always respected, 
and as a citizen virtuous and upright, and was long a 
general in the militia of New Hampshire, and sheriff of 
the most populous county in that state. 

" While attending court at Exeter," as he said himself, 
" a carriage, on passing, let down a window, and a voice 
exclaimed, 'Halloo, George !' I looked up, and replied, 
1 Harry, is that you V We went to the hotel together, 
drank our punch, and had a grand time, I had not seen 
him for twenty-five years." A gentleman present ob- 
served, " General Reid, how could you get along with 
such a democrat as General Dearborn is ?" Reid, after 
a moment's pause, replied, " I always was rather sorry 
Harry was a democrat, but that is of no consequence 
among old officers ; he is a noble fellow ; there is no man 
I esteem and love more ; and if Jefferson had always 
made as good appointments as Dearborn, to the war 
office, I should think much better of him than I now 
do." 

After Independence was secured, and acknowledged 
by Great Britain, Colonel Dearborn, with his companions 
in arms who had survived the fatigues, hardships, and 
dangers of the war, returned to the pursuits of private 
life ; and he could truly say, as to property, u I went out 
full and returned empty." 



124 

We have seen Colonel Dearborn in more than eight 
}rears of war, in sickness and in health, in imprisonment, 
in victory and defeat, from Bunker's Hill to the surrender 
of Cornwallis, the same ardent patriot and determined 
soldier. In camp, vigilant, circumspect and intelligent; 
in action determined, and always pressing into close ac- 
tion with the bayonet, as at Saratoga and at Monmouth. 
In camp or action, always receiving the approbation of 
his commanders, whether Sullivan, Gates, or Washing- 
ton. 

All comparisons may be considered in some measure 
inviduous, yet justice requires, and truth warrants the 
assertion, that of all the officers of the gallant New 
Hampshire line in the revolutionary war, after the deaths 
of General Poor and Colonel Scammel, Dearborn stood 
first. The writer is fully aware that Stark, Cilley and 
Reid, were all officers of great merit, but he feels com- 
pelled to make the foregoing declaration in favor of Col. 
Dearborn. 

In June, 1784, he removed from New Hampshire to 
the Kennebec river, in Maine. Before his removal, he 
fortunately exchanged some uncultivated land with the 
trustees of Philips's Exeter Academy for cash, a commo- 
dity at that time rarely to be had. Whether the trustees 
were losers or gainers by the exchange, is not known ; 
but Col. Dearborn always considered it a fortunate oc- 
currence, and in the light of a favor to him. 

In 1787, he was elected by the field-officers of several 
regiments a brigadier-general of the militia, and soon 



125 

after appointed major-general by the Legislature of the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 

President Washington never forgot his distinguished 
compatriots in arms, and when called by the voice of the 
nation to the head of the Federal Government, he nomi- 
nated his most deserving officers to offices of trust and 
responsibility ; among these General Dearborn was ap- 
pointed Marshal of the District of Maine. Soon after 
he was elected a member of Congress from the Kennebec 
district, and re-elected ; and in that body took a decided 
stand in the House of Representatives against the British 
or Jay's Treaty, as it was commonly called. 

In this act we see his independence ; for he well knew 
that he acted contrary to the opinion and wishes of 
Washington. Washington believed the treaty to be 
preferred, at that time, to war with Great Britain. Dear- 
born believed, and honestly believed, the treaty to be de- 
rogatory to the honor of the American people and Go- 
vernment, and preferred war to peace on such conditions. 
A very great majority of the American people were then 
opposed to the treaty, but Washington and the requisite 
majority of the senate, twenty to ten, approved of it. 

At this time the people look back with approbation of 
Washington and the senate in this affair. Many honest 
and able patriots thought and acted with General Dear- 
born, relative to the exciting question of Jay's Treaty. 
In consequence of his vote on this occasion, notwith- 
standing his revolutionary services and great personal 
popularity, he lost his election in the Kennebec district, 
and remained a few years in retirement. 

11 



126 

In 1801, the administration of the Government passed 
from the federal to the democratic party after a long and 
bitter contest, when General Dearborn was called by 
President Jefferson to preside over the War Department. 
The federal party not only opposed Mr. Jefferson for the 
political course he had taken against the administration 
of Washington, but for the personal attacks he had made 
on that great and good man, and all the persons he had 
confided in during his administration — John Adams, 
John Jay, Timothy Pickering and Alexander Hamilton, 
all his cotemporarres. If these great and honest patriots 
were mistaken in any of their measures, they did not de- 
serve the personal animadversions of Mr. Jefferson ; but 
Mr. Jefferson, in part to make amends for these errors, 
called into his cabinet the first men of his party for tal- 
ents and integrity, such as Madison, Galatin, and Dear- 
born. There was no defalcations among the public 
officers during the eight years of his administering the 
government. 

When General Dearborn was about to resign, the War 
Department was examined by James Hillhouse and Ti- 
mothy Pickering, and every thing found correct ; and so 
they reported, although his political opponents. His in- 
tegrity in the cabinet was as unimpeaehed as his courage 
and capacity had been conspicuous in the field. On re" 
signing the War Department he was appointed Collector 
of the Port of Boston and Charlestown , the successor of 
General Lincoln, who had held the office under Wash- 
ington, Adams and Jefferson; in which office he remained 
until the nation, deeply wounded and dishonored by re- 



127 

peated violations of its rights, resorted to arms to obtain 
redress. After thirty years of prosperous peace, the Go- 
vernment had to select its officers to command its armies 
among its citizens. Could a more eligible appointment 
have been made for commander-in-chief, than from the 
few existing veterans whose talents had been proved in 
the tented field and on the day of battle 7 Among this 
small number was General Dearborn. During the month 
of January, 1812, he received the following letter from 
the President of the United States : 

" Washington, January 11, 1812. 

" Dear Sir, 

The Congress has just passed an act, adding 
twenty odd thousand to the military establishment. It 
provides for two major-generals and five brigadiers* 
The importance of placing this, and the forces in view, 
under the best commanders, speaks for itself. Our eyes 
could not but be turned, on such an occasion, to your 
qualifications and experience ; and I wait for your per- 
mission only to name you to the senate for the senior 
major-general. 

" I hope you will so far suspend all other considera- 
tions as not to withhold it, and that I shall not only be 
gratified with this information as quickly as possible, but 
with an authority to look for your arrival here as soon 
as you can make it practicable. You will be sensible of 
all the value of your co-operation on the spot, in making 
the arrangements necessary to repair the loss of time 
which has taken place. All the information we receive 



128 

urges a vigorous preparation for events. Accept my 
best respects and most friendly wishes. 

" JAMES MADISON." 

On the receipt of this communication, General Dear- 
born, believing that the accumulated injuries which his 
country had received from Great Britain, and which still 
remained unredressed, required an appeal to the God of 
battles, informed the president that his life had ever been 
devoted to the service of his country, and he felt himself 
bound to obey her commands whenever his services were 
required. 

Early in February, he received a letter from the Pre- 
sident, dated January 28, in which he observes : " I have 
just received from the senate their concurrence (23 to 9) 
in your nomination as a major-general. I give you the 
earliest notice, that, without waiting for a formal com- 
munication, you may hasten your setting out for Wash- 
ington. In order to afford the public the benefit of your 
councils here, it is very important that you be here with- 
out a moment's delay. In the hope of seeing you very 
speedily, and with every wish for your happiness, I ten- 
der assurances of my esteem and friendship." The next 
day after the receipt of the foregoing communication — 
ever prompt to obey the commands of his country — he 
left Boston for the city of Washington, where he remain- 
ed until the last of April, assisting in making those ar- 
rangements which were deemed necessary on the antici- 
pated event of a declaration of war. 



129 

He then repaired to Albany and directed the establish- 
ment of barracks, depots of" arms, provisions, and the 
whole material of war, on the northern and northwest- 
ern frontier. From thence he proceeded to Boston, and 
adopted the necessary arrangements for putting the gar- 
risons and sea-coasts of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Mas- 
sachusetts proper, New Hampshire and the district of 
Maine, in the best possible posture of defence. 

From the above communications of President Madison, 
after serving eight years with General Dearborn in the 
cabinet, and a previous acquaintance as members of 
Congress, appears the entire confidence he placed in him 
for his integrity and ability in the necessary arrangement 
of the army previous to the declaration of war ; and this, 
too, when the late Gov. Eustis was secretary of war — a 
gentleman who had passed the whole of the revolution- 
ary war, with high reputation, in the staff of the army. 
It will be seen, hereafter, that William Eustis was a very 
different person from John Armstrong. Soon after the 
declaration of war, General Dearborn repaired to Green • 
bush, to direct and superintend the operations of the 
opening campaign. The shameful surrender of Hull, 
at Detroit, and subsequent unfortunate transactions on 
the Niagara, at Q,ueenstown Heights, frustrated the plans 
of the campaign of 1812. 

Notwithstanding these severe checks, Gen. Dearborn 

did not relax in activity ; for as soon as the troops went 

into winter quarters, he was unremittingly employed in 

recruiting the army, and making preparations for opening 

the campaign early the following year. His expeditious 

11* 



130 

movements in 1813, with the regular army, preserved 
Sackett's Harbor, when abandoned by the militia, and 
secured the fleet, then frozen up at that port, from a con- 
templated attack of the enemy. Previous to the Gene- 
ral's departure from Albany, in February, 1813, he had 
ordered Generals Lewis and Boyd to the Niagara fron- 
tier, directing the former to prepare boats and scows, 
erect batteries, and make every necessary arrangement 
for an attack on Fort George. 

After giving these orders, he repaired to Utica and 
Whitestown, made there arrangements for the transpor- 
tation of troops down the Oswego to Sackett's Harbor, 
agreeably to a plan of operations which had been sub- 
mitted to the secretary of war, and which was left to the 
general to carry into effect. The projected plan was to 
capture Little York, which would give Commodore 
Chauncey the command of the lake, render it impossible 
for the enemy to furnish their troops and Indians with 
stores, and cut off all communication between Kingston 
and Maiden. 

The plan was disclosed at the Harbor only to Com- 
modore Chauncey and General Pike. General Lewis, 
then at Niagara, was advised of the movement, and or- 
dered to be in readiness for an immediate attack on Fort 
George. After the capture of York, the troops were to 
be transported to Niagara, and make an instant attack on 
Fort George. This being effected, the army was to have 
been transported back to Sackett's Harbor ; from whence* 
with additional troops collecting by previous orders, they 
were to make an attack on Kingston in its rear; while 



131 

the fleet would batter the town, fortifications, and fleet in 
front. With this system of operations in view. General 
Dearborn sailed with sixteen hundred men, as soon as 
the ice permitted the fleet to leave the Harbor. 

York was taken the 27th day of April, with all the 
stores of the British army, a ship of thirty guns burnt, 
and the Duke of Gloucester, of fourteen guns, made a 
prize. The Earl of Moira had previously sailed for 
Kingston. 

To show the great confidence the army had in their 
commander and his plans, an extract of a letter from the 
able and lamented General Z. M. Pike, who fell at the 
capture of Little York, to his wife, is here inserted : 

"My Dear Clara. — We are now standing on and 
off the harbor of York, which we shall attack at daylight 
in the morning. I shall dedicate the last moments to you, 
and to-morrow throw all other ideas but my country to 
the winds. As yet, I know not if Gen. Dearborn lands : 
he has acted honorably, and I feel great gratitude to him. 
My pen and sword shall both be exerted to do him 
honor." 

Upon the success of the first part of the expedition, 
General Dearborn sent an express to inform Gen. Lewis 
what he had done, and to notify him of his intended ar- 
rival with the army at Fort Niagara, at which post the 
General arrived a few days after, where he learned that 
General Lewis was at Judge Potter's, opposite Niagara 
Falls, fourteen miles from his troops. Upon further in- 
quiry, to the disappointment and mortification of General 
Dearborn, he discovered the heavy mortars were not fixed 



132 

on their beds in the fort, nor the battering cannon mount- 
ed, nor the boats to make the descent provided ; and Ge- 
neral Winder with his brigade was at Black Rock, more 
than thirty miles distant from the month of the Niagara, 
where the descent on the Canadian shore was to be 
made. 

Gen. Dearborn, who had long known Gen. Lewis, 
was personally attached to him, and therefore unwilling 
in the present instance to expose his want of activity to 
the government, by assigning his gross negligence of 
prescribed duties and of the positive instructions which 
had been given, as the cause of the postponement of the 
intended attack ; but, a few days after, fearful it was 
possible improper advantage might be taken, to his pre- 
judice, of this magnanimous forbearance, in the event of 
disasters, (which ultimately was done) he apprized the 
secretary of war of all the circumstances which had oc- 
casioned the unlooked for delay in the movement of the 
army. 

The general, thus circumstanced, knowing the enemy 
would be reinforced before the boats to be built would be 
in readiness to pass over the army, desired Commodore 
Chauncey to return to Sackett's Harbor, and in the in- 
terim bring up General Chandler's brigade. Daring 
this period, five batteries were erected above Fort Nia- 
gara, and the boats which had been commenced were 
ordered to be finished with all expedition, and brought 
round to Four Mile Creek ; the last was effected, on the 
river, under fire of the enemy's batteries, without any 
loss. Immediately on the return of the fleet with Gen. 



133 

Chandler's brigade, the general issued an order, which 
never has been published, " that on the next day the 
troops should breakfast at two o'clock, strike tents at 
three, and embark at four." 

The situation and position of the country had been 
previously obtained by spies, the plan of landing digested, 
and the plan of attack delineated, which was submitted 
to Generals Lewis, Chandler, Winder and Boyd, and 
met their full approbation. Excessive fatigue, and fre- 
quent exposures to storms, had produced a violent fever? 
which, ten days previous to the attack on Fort George, 
had confined General Dearborn to his bed. 

The morning after the general order was announced 
for the attack, General Lewis called on him and said it 
would be impossible for the army to embark. General 
Dearborn, then having some suspicions of the military 
character and energy of Gen. Lewis, replied, the attack 
should be made as ordered, that he was prepared, and 
further delay would not be allowed. On the morning of 
the attack General Dearborn was mounted on his horse) 
by assistance, before four o'clock, in opposition to the 
opinion of his physicians, and against the remonstrances 
of the officers of his staff. He rode to the place of em- 
barkation — saw the troops on board the fleet and boats ; 
General Lewis, who had the immediate command, now 
first made his appearance, and expressed his great as- 
tonishment at the unexpected rapidity with which this 
movement had been made. This effort had so exhausted 
Gen. Dearborn, that he was taken from his horse, led to 
a boat, and conveyed on board the Madison. On his 



134 

way to Four-mile Creek, Dr. Mann, a hospital surgeon 
of the army., meeting Gen. Dearborn, said to him, " I 
apprehend you do not intend to embark with the army." 
The general replied, " 1 apprehend nothing sir — / go 
into battle or perish in the attempt." From the first 
dawn of day, and while the army was embarking, a most 
tremendous fire of hot shot and shells from Fort Niagara 
and the newly erected batteries, was opened on Fort 
George, and continued until the block-houses, barracks 
and stores were enwrapped in flames, and the guns si- 
lenced. 

The gallant Colonel (now General) Scott, with a com- 
mand of eight hundred light troops, composed the ad- 
vance of the army, followed by Generals Boyd and Win- 
der, and the reserve under Gem Chandler. Col. Scott 
immediately made good his landing, under a sheet of 
fire, while the several regiments in succession formed the 
order of battle from right to left, in a most soldier-like 
manner. This landing of the army and escalade of a 
bank twenty feet high, similar to a parapet, has been 
considered the handsomest military display on the nor- 
thern frontier during the war. 

General Dearborn, from his great exertions, added to 
his state of health, was unable to support himself more 
than fifteen or twenty minutes on his feet at once ; but 
he was frequently up, watching their movements. The 
troops had all landed, (except the reserve) when Gem 
Lewis still remained on board. General Dearborn, exer- 
cising his usual delicacy with him, merely suggested to 
him, whether he ought not to land, and then retired. 



135 

Within twenty minutes, General Dearborn again came 
on deck, and rinding Gen. Lewis still on board, repeated 
his suggestions for him to land ; notwithstanding which, 
Gen. Lewis ioas not on shore until after the battle- 
The enemy had now fallen back between the village of 
Newark and Fort George. After Gen. Lewis had land- 
ed, an hour and a half passed away, and four thousand 
men formed in order of battle, with a fine train of artil- 
lery, were seen standing still ; while the enemy, not 
more than twelve hundred, was manceuvering for a re- 
treat. At this moment Gen. Dearborn, in agony at the 
delay, sent his D. A., Gen. Beebe, to Gen. Lewis, with 
orders " to move instantly, surround the enemy, and 
cut them up." Even after this order, it was an hour 
before Generals Boyd, Chandler and Scott, with all 
their arguments, could induce Gen. Lewis to advance — 
and then only to the south side of Newark, three-fourths 
of a mile from his first position, when the line was again 
formed, and continued until the enemy had retreated in 
the rear of Fort George, and took the route to Q,ueens- 
town Heights. Colonel Scott, however, pursued the re- 
treating broken army without orders three miles, and 
would not desist in his pursuit until four aids de-camp 
of Gen. Lewis had been dispatched to order his return. 
Late in the day, the ship Madison moved up the river in 
front of Fort George, where Gen. Dearborn was taken 
on shore and carried to his quarters, much exhausted. 

Meeting with Gen. Lewis, he expressed his disappro- 
bation of his conduct, and ordered him to put the army 
in pursuit of the enemy at five o'cloek the next morning* 



136 

Instead of which r he did not move until five o'clock in 
the afternoon. Upon his arrival at Q,ueenstown Heights, 
he learnt the enemy had made a rapid movement towards 
the head of Lake Ontario, by the Beaver Dam, and sent 
back a report to that effect. 

Gen. Dearborn having, on his part, neglected nothing 
to secure the advantage obtained over the enemy — mor- 
tified and provoked at the dereliction of duty in any offi- 
cer, and unwilling that a broken and disconcerted army 
should escape, sent for Commodore Chauncey and re- 
quested him to take part of the army on board his fleet,. 
and proceed with them to the head of the lake, while the 
remainder would march by the lake road, and thus make 
certain the capture of the enemy. To this proposition 
the commodore readily agreed. Orders were in conse_ 
quence sent to Gen. Lewis to return. On the following 
morning, Chauncey called on the general, and informed 
him, that on reflection it would be imprudent in him to 
delay his return to Sackett's Harbor, as it was of the ut- 
most importance that the new ship, Gen. Pike, should be 
got out on the lake with all possible despatch ; while the 
weak state of that garrison would favor an attack from 
a much superior force at Kingston, (which before his 
return actually took place,) and destroy his new ship, 
and thus give Sir James Yeo the command of the lake* 
To the correctness of these remarks, and having no com- 
mand over Com. Chauncey, Gen. Dearborn was obliged 
to yield. Thus frustrated in his expectation of assis- 
tance from the fleet, he ordered Generals Chandler's and 
Winder's brigades to follow the enemy on the lake road, 



137 

while ammunition and provisions were transported in 
batteaux to the head of the lake. These brigades 
marched, and having arrived within a few miles of the 
enemy's camp late in the afternoon, it was thought most 
prudent to wait and make the attack on the following 
morning. But the enemy, from their inferiority in num- 
bers, thought it most wise to do all they could ever do 
before next morning : they attacked these brigades in the 
night, and carried off Generals Chandler and Winder 
prisoners. How this happened has never been satisfac- 
torily explained ; but the captured Generals have never 
been accused of too much circumspection on that occa- 
sion. 

The command now devolved on Col. Burns* who 
called a council of war : it was determined to send back 
to Gen. Dearborn (forty miles distant,) inform him of the 
event, and wait his orders. The express arrived at 
night. Gen. Dearborn called Generals Lewis, Boyd 
and Swartwout, and ordered them to set out immediately 
for the army, and attack the enemy. The two latter 
Generals were ready to start instantly ; but Gen. Lewis 
observed that it rained and was dark, and did not get in 
readiness until the next day. The day after these 
officers departed to join the army, the British fleet hove 
in sight ; approached to take the soundings opposite Fort 
Niagara, and appeared to be designating a place for land- 
ing troops. In consequence of which, General Dearborn 
recalled the army from Stoney Creek. 

Com. Chauncey was confident, when he sailed from 
12 



138 

the Niagara, he should be able to get the new ship out 
by the tenth of June, and that, in the mean time, the 
British would not dare to come out on the lake. They 
did appear, however, in a few days after the Commo- 
dore's departure, and thereby prevented the operations 
against the enemy which were contemplated. The 
roads were such, that it was impossible to transport pro- 
visions and supplies for the army by land ; while it 
would have been madness to attempt it in batteaux by 
water, while the British fleet was on the lake. Thus 
situated, Gen. Dearborn determined to await the return 
of the Commodore, repair to Fort George, and be in 
readiness to move as soon as the fleet arrived. An 
express arrived from Commodore Chauncey, advising he 
could not move before the 30th of June. 

At this peiiod, Gen. Dearborn's health was reduced so 
low as to compel him to relinquish the immediate com- 
mand of the army, and the command, pro tern, devolved 
on Gen. Boyd. A few days after, information was re- 
ceived that a party of British, Indians and militia, had 
established a post sixteen miles from Fort George, from, 
whence were sent plundering parties in every direction, 
to harass and plunder those inhabitants who were friendly 
to the United States ; and where a depot of provisions 
had been collected. It was of importance that this post 
should be broken up ; and to put it beyond a doubt* 
that a plan to effect it should succeed, a select corps was 
formed of five hundred picked infantry, and a detach- 
ment of mounted volunteers, selected because they were 
acquainted with the country ; also a detachment of light 



139 

artillery, with one twelve and one six pounder, to batter 
down the stone house, if it should be garrisoned for 
defence. 

It became a question who should take the orders of 
this expedition, as a number of Colonels requested the 
command ; and among others was Col. Boerstler. This 
officer stood in the highest repute for his talents, enter- 
prise and bravery. To him it was assigned. After this 
arrangement was made, General Boyd, with Colonels 
Scott, Christie, and other officers, who approved the 
measure, waited on Gen. Dearborn, and asked his opinion, 
which was in accordance with theirs. 

Gen. Boyd gave orders to Col. Boerstler to march at 
dusk, reach the object of the enterprise at sunrise, sur- 
round the house, capture the party, destroy the provisions, 
and return immediately to camp. The following day, 
June 25th, about twelve o'clock, an express arrived from 
Colonel Boerstler, with information that he was attacked 
within two or three miles of the house, had fallen back 
into an open field, and there would defend himself until 
he was reinforced. Gen. Boyd, and Colonels Scott and 
Christie waited on Gen. Dearborn, and stated to him 
these facts. Gen. Dearborn considered this such an 
extraordinary decision of Col. Boerstler, that upon a 
moment's reflection, he would either fight a decisive 
battle, or make a rapid retreat until he met the reinforce- 
ment ; for Boerstler well knew the enemy was not half 
the distance from him that he was from Fort George, 
and could be reinforced and cut him off before it was 
possible to send him relief. General Boyd, however, 



140 

ordered Colonel Christie, with a detachment of three or 
four hundred, to march ; who, upon his arrival at Queens- 
town, sent back an express that information was obtained, 
that at one o'clock Col. Boerstler surrendered. This 
report was considered impossible by all. The General 
renewed the order to push on. A short period after, a 
second express arrived from Col. Christie, stating that 
he had further positive information, that Boerstler had 
surrendered ; when the reinforcing detachment was 
ordered to return. 

General Dearborn was censured for this affair, in 
anonymous letters published in the National Intelligencer 
fabricated at Washington, or by some of the corps ^es- 
pionage in the army. The unvarnished fact is, that 
Gen. Boyd ordered five hundred and sixty selected men 
to destroy a post, garrisoned, as he was informed, not by 
more than one hundred and eighty British, Indians and 
militia. It was for this public ostensible reason Gen. 
Dearborn was censured. The secret reason was known 
to the then Secretary of War, General John Armstrong. 

The troops felt themselves disgraced by the surrender 
of Boerstler, while a gloom pervaded the army, which 
Gen. Dearborn found necessary to dissipate; and his 
health improving, he the next morning resumed the 
command of the army. He was astonished to find that 
such was the panic occasioned by this affair, that every 
exertion was requisite to restore tranquility and firmness 
among the troops. A sentiment had gone abroad that 
the army must recross the Niagara, and abandon the 
Canadian shore. 



141 

He assembled the field officers, stated the dangerous 
tendency of the prevailing gloom, and that every exer- 
tion must be made to animate the army ; that they were 
capable of maintaining their position, and he never 
would consent to a retrograde movement. The officers 
coincided with him in opinion, and were directed to dis- 
seminate this determination among the troops. To 
convince them of the unalterable decision of the General, 
the boats were ordered to the American side of the river : 
to restore confidence in the troops of the strength of their 
position, every exertion was made to put Fort George 
in the best possible posture of defence. The General, 
at this period, had so far recovered as to mark out the 
form of the works, which were thrown up in twenty- 
four hours. 

The enemy, having received large reinforcements 
advanced to Twenty Mile Creek. The officers were 
gratified to see the General in command, after a fever of 
thirty-six days. A few nights after the army was in- 
trenched, he mounted his horse on an alarm, rode down 
the line, and as he passed, harangued the troops that 
victory was certain, and the next day would close the 
war at that end of the lake. The unexpected appear- 
ance of the Commander-in-Chief at the head of the army, 
after so severe a sickness, renewed their confidence; 
while his exhortations to them to conduct themselves 
like Americans who were never beaten, inspired them 
with animation. General Bearborn, notwithstanding 
his renewed exertions before his strength was fully rein- 
stated, had rapidly recovered his health, when, on the 

12* 



142 

14th of July, the extraordinary and unexpected order to 
retire from command, was received from the Secretary 
of War. 

While Gen. Dearborn was confined to his quarters at 
Fort George, by severe indisposition, which made it 
necessary for him to relinquish the command of the army 
for a few days. General Lewis made a communication 
to the Secretary of War relative to the expedition to 
Stony Creek, in which he indelicately alluded to Gen- 
eral Dearborn, and observed that, "he would never be 
fit for service again." Gen. Dearborn wrote Gen. Lewis 
the following letter, as soon as he noticed his in the 
National Intelligencer. 

" Niagara, July 7th, 1813. 

Dear Sir, — 

Notwithstanding your gloomy predictions, in your 
official report to the Secretary of War ; whether, * Fif 
or * Not,' it is more than ten days since I reassumed 
the command of the army, and the 9th military district 
of course. Your delicate description of my state of 
health was peculiarly calculated for soothing the minds 
of my children and friends, who had been previously 
informed of my indisposition. 

Your motives must be best known to yourself, but 
from your general deportment as a gentleman of sensibil- 
ity and politeness, I could not have believed you capable 
of so far deviating from your usual character. In your 
account of the affair at Stoney Creek, the decided and 
positive condemnation of a general officer, whose situa- 



143 

tion will not admit of his vindicating himself, may have 
been premature. 

I should not, sir, have troubled you with any remarks 
on your official report, had it not sentenced me to death, 
and as I conceive, without just cause, and in a manner 
too, not the most delicate, and quite unnecessary in such 
a report. 

Your obedient servant &c. 

H. DEARBORN. 

General Lewis." 

As a proof of the motive which induced General 
Lewis, who was the brother-in-law of Armstrong, to 
write the letter, and that his predictions were not such 
as he really believed ; a few days after the date of his 
letter to the department of War, while at home, on his 
way to Sackett's Harbor, whither he had been ordered 
by General Dearborn, he wrote a letter to him, urging 
him to reassume the command of the army, as he 
understood General Hampton had arrived at Albany, 
and was fearful he would take command of District No. 
9 ; and stated that he had no confidence in him, and 
conceived it highly important for the good of the Union, 
that Gen. Dearborn should immediately reassume his 
command. In his reply to Gen. Dearborn's letter, he 
stated that he intended no reflection on him, and " had 
no idea the letter would have been published,"' 1 which 
he wrote Armstrong ; thus clearly showing, that he did 
not believe to be true, what he stated in relation to Gen. 
Dearborn's health, or capacity to command, but that it 



144 , 

was to be made use of privately, by being shown the 
President to injure Gen. Dearborn ; for if he believed 
Gen. Dearborn would never " be jit for service again? 
why did he urge him to reassume the command of the 
army, within five or six days after the date of the letter 
to Armstrong ; for the order to remove Gen. Dearborn 
was dated but a few days after Lewis's communication 
was published in the Intelligencer ; notwithstanding the 
Secretary had previously received a letter from General 
Dearborn, informing him of the rapid recovery of his 
health, and that he had reassumed the command of 
the army, which letter, it is presumed he did not show 
the President, but ordered his immediate removal, which 
was with difficulty effected, as will appear from the fol- 
lowing sketch of a conversation, which took place be- 
tween Gen. Wilkinson and Armstrong on the subject. 
" John Armstrong, Esq., Secretary of War, told General 
Wilkinson on the 1st or 2d of August, 1813, that it was 
with difficulty he could prevail on the President, calling 
him the " little man? to agree to the recall of General 
Dearborn from command, and informed Wilkinson at 
the same time, that disobedience of orders was one of 
the causes of Gen. Dearborn's recall from command. 
He gave the same reason to Dr. Ball for Gen. Dearborn's 
recall ; and in a series of documents respecting the cam- 
paign, which were submitted to General Wilkinson by 
Armstrong, the fact of Gen. Dearborn's disobedience of 
orders, was endeavored to be sustained by the circum- 
stance of his attack on York, instead of Kingston, as 
he was ordered, The assertion as to the disobedience 



145 

of orders above alluded to is unfounded, as will appear 
by a letter from Gen. Armstrong to Gen. Dearborn, con- 
tained in a report from the former to Congress, the next 
winter after the capture of York, in which that move- 
ment is approved and was sanctioned. 

« War Department, 6th July, 1813. 
Sir, 

I have the orders of the President to express 
to you his decision, that you retire from the com- 
mand of District No. 9, and the troops within the same, 
until your health be re-established, and until further 
orders. I have the honor to be, Sir, with very great 
respect, your most obedient and very humble servant. 

JOHN ARMSTRONG. 
Maj. Gen. H. Dearborn." 

GENERAL ORDERS. 

Head Quarters, Fort George, July 1st, 1813. 
Having received an order from the Secretary of War, 
to retire from my present command, until my health 
shall be re-established, and until further orders, the 
command of the army will at present devolve on Brigade 
General Boyd. I embrace this occasion for expressing 
my hearty and most ardent wishes for the happiness and 
success of the troops I have had the honor of command- 
ing ; of whose bravery and zeal in the service of their 
country, I have experienced the most distinguished 
proofs, and for whose fame and welfare, I feel the warm- 
est and strongest interest. While absent, the confidence 



146 

I shall repose in the soldierly qualities of the officers 
and men, will be a source of the most pleasing antici- 
pations of their future glory. "Were I permitted to con- 
sult my own feelings, no consideration would induce me 
to leave the army at this important crisis ; but the duty 
of a soldier is to obey the orders of his superiors. 

H. DEARBORN, 
Maj. Gen. Com. Military District No. 9." 

About twelve o'clock on the day the foregoing order 
was promulgated, the following address, signed by all 
the field and staff officers of the army, stationed at Fort 
George, was presented to General Dearborn. 

Fort George, July 15, 1813. 
To Major General Dearborn, commanding, &c. &c. 
Sir, — 

We, the undersigned, general and field officers of 
the army, who have served under your orders the present 
campaign, having heard with regret, that it is your in- 
tention to retire from your present command, beg leave 
respectfully to address you upon the subject. We are 
far from presuming, sir, to interfere with arrangements 
made by authority when announced, but humbly con- 
ceive the present circumstances of this army are such as 
will, when taken into serious consideration, convince you 
that your longer continuance with us is of the first im- 
portance, at this moment, if not absolutely indispensable 
to the good of the service. We are now in a hostile 
country, and in the immediate neighborhood of a pow- 



147 

erful, though beaten enemy — an enemy whose strength 
is daily recruiting by the arrival of reinforcements. In 
our own numbers, too, we have strength and confidence ; 
our position has been well chosen for defence, and the 
moment for advancing upon the enemy may soon be 
expected to come. But to operate with success, it is 
necessary that we should have our compliment of officers. 
But two Generals now remain, whereas our numbers 
would give full employment for three. If you, too, 
unfortunately should be taken from us (at such a period 
as the present.) the deficiencies cannot be soon supplied, 
and in the meantime the enemy and the renewal of 
operations are at hand. 

Sir, we are far from distrusting our own ability to 
execute the commissions with which we have respec- 
tively been honored by our Government, and have no 
design of converting this address into one of mere per- 
sonal adulation. We know your averseness to flattery, 
and, as soldiers, we are unaccustomed to flatter. But 
the circumstances under which we address you oblige 
us to say, that the knowledge we possess of your numer- 
ous services and merits, in the ardent struggles of our 
glorious Revolution — not to speak of more recent events 
in which we might be supposed to feel too warmly a 
participators — has given us an infinitely higher confi 
dence in your ability to command, with energy and 
effect, than we can possibly feel individually in ourselves, 
or generally in those who will be placed in stations of in- 
creasing responsibility, by your withdrawal from this army. 
As soldiers, we trust we shall be found equal to our 



148 

duties in any event ; but as soldiers and lovers of our 
country, we wish to perform our duties under the most 
favorable auspices; therefore we do most earnestly 
entreat you to postpone the resolution we understand you 
have taken, and to continue in the exercise of that com- 
mand, which you have already holden with honor to your- 
self and country, and with what is of less consequence, 
the approbation of those who now address you. If, 
however, contrary to our ardent wishes, and contrary to 
what appear the exigencies of this army, you should 
feel yourself bound from any cause whatever, to with- 
draw from the frontier, in such event, we have to beg 
that you will please to bear with you, whithersoever you 
may go, the recollection of our great veneration for your 
revolutionary services ; our respect for your political 
constancy and virtue ; and the high sense we unani- 
mously entertain of the benefits your country has al- 
ready received at your hands, since the commencement 
of the present war. With these sentiments, and the best 
wishes for the speedy and perfect restoration of your 
health, we have the honor to be, with the highest grati- 
tude and respect, your most obedient servants, 



T. P. BOYD, Brigadier General. 
M. PORTER, Col. light artillery. 
JAMES BURNS, Col. 2d reg. drag. 
H. BRADY, Col. 22d infantry. 
C. PEARCE, Col. 16th infantry. 
JAMES MILLER Col. 6th inf. 
W. SCOTT, Col. and Ad.j't Gen. 
E. BEEBE, Assistant Adj't Gen. 
H. V. MILTON, Lieut. Col. 8th inf. 
I. CHRY8TIE, Col. 22d infantry. 
I. P. PRESTON Lt Col 12th infcom. 
I. P. MITCHELL, LtCol 3rd artil 
I. L. SMITH, Lt. Col. 24th inf. 



A. EUSTIS, Major light artillery 
T. A. POSEY, Major 5th inf. 

J. H. HUYICH, Major 13th inf. 
N. PINKEY, Major 5threg't. 
R. LUCAS, Major 23d inf. 
I. WOODFORD, Maj. 2d reg. drag. 
J. JOHNSON, Major 21st inf. 
W. CUMMING, Major 8th inf. 
I. E. WOOL, Major infantry. 
W. MORGAN, Major 12th inf. 

B. FORSYTH, Major rifle reg't. 
A. M. MALCOMB, Major 13th inf. 



149 

To the. foregoing address, General Dearborn made the 
following reply : 

Gentlemen, 

It is with sentiments of grateful feeling, and the 
liveliest satisfaction, that I have observed your expres- 
sions of personal friendship and confidence. I regret 
that my ability to serve my country is not commensurate 
with the devotion and zeal I have ever felt, for the cause 
in which it is so honorably engaged ; a cause on which 
our national character, and the dearest rights of indi- 
viduals are staked. 

By referring to the general order of this date, you will 
perceive the necessity of my retiring from the command 
of the army on this frontier. Be assured, gentlemen, 
that a recollection of the patience and soldier-like de- 
portment of yourselves, and the officers and men under 
your command, in scenes of privation and suffering — 
your regularity and discipline in camp — your cool intre- 
pidity in the hour of threatening and danger — and order 
and bravery in action, will be among my most pleasing 
remembrances throughout life ; and I look forward with 
confidence to the future glory of the soldiers who con- 
quered at York and Newark. Be pleased, gentlemen, to 
accept my warmest wishes for your health and happi- 
ness, and may your arduous and honorable services be 
duly appreciated by the government, and a grateful 
country. I have the honor to be, &c, &c., 

H. DEARBORN." 



13 



150 

General Dearborn having determined to leave Fort 
George at three o'clock, all the officers waited on him at 
two, and, each shaking him by the hand, took an affec- 
tionate leave j then accompanied him to the banks of 
the Niagara, whence he embarked to cross the river. 
The military band placed in Brock's Bastion paid ap- 
propriate honors to their departing Genera], and a salute 
was fired from the ramparts of the fort. A troop of 
horse received him on the opposite shore, and escorted 
him to Lewistown. As soon as he reached Utica, he 
sent the following letter to the President of the United 
States : 

" Utica, July 24, 1813. 
To the President of the United States : 

Sir — From the unequivocal and positive order re- 
ceived from the Secretary of War, (a copy of which I 
take the liberty of enclosing,) I had no option, but im- 
plicit obedience ; and I retired within twenty-four hours 
after the receipt of that order. My health had so much 
improved as to enable me to resume the command of the 
troops on the 16th of June, of which I had informed the 
Secretary of War. By a letter from the War Depart- 
ment, of the 27th of May, I am informed that Major 
General Hampton would set out on the next day for this 
army. I anxiously expected his arrival by the 18th or 
20th June ; but, by a letter dated the 30th of June, the 
Secretary of War gave me theirs* notice of the forma- 
tion of an army in Vermont, and of the destination of 
Generals Hampton and Parker to that army. 



151 

From the daily expectation of the arrival of General 
Hampton, Major General Lewis was directed to proceed 
to Sackett's Harbor, to take the command of the troops 
assembled and assembling at that place. As I was sus- 
pended from all command, I shall return to my family, 
near Boston. I shall never complain of being so dis- 
posed of as the good of the service may require ; but the 
manner of performing an act gives a character to the 
act itself: and considering the particular manner and 
time of my removal from command, I trust it will not be 
deemed improper to afford me the satisfaction of an in- 
quiry, for investigating any part of my conduct that 
may have been deemed improper, and on which my sus- 
pension from command may have been predicated. I 
have the honor of being, with the highest respect, sir, 
your obedient, humble servant, 

H. DEARBORN." 

A few days after he reached his seat in Roxbury, he 
received the subjoined answer from the President : 

Washington, August 8, 1813. 
Dear Sir — 

I have received yours of the 24th July. As my 
esteem and regard have undergone no change, I wish 
you to be apprised that such was the state of things? 
and such the turn they were taking, that the retirement, 
which is the subject of your letter, was proposed by 
your best personal friends. 

It was my purpose to have written to you on the oo 



152 

casion, but it was made impossible by a severe illness, 
from which I am now barely enough recovered for a 
journey to the mountains, prescribed by my physicians as 
indispensable. It would have been entirely agreeable to 
me if, as 1 took for granted was the case, you had exe- 
cuted your original intention, of providing for your 
health by exchanging the sickliness of Niagara for some 
eligible spot ; and I sincerely lament every pain to which 
you have been subsequently exposed, from whatever 
circumstance it has proceeded. 

How far the investigation you refer to would be regu^ 
lar, I am not prepared to say. You have seen the motion 
in the House of Representatives, comprehending such 
an object, and the prospect held out of resuming the 
subject at another session. I am persuaded that you 
will not lose in any respect by the effect of time and 
truth. Accept my respects and best wishes. 

JAMES MADISON. 

Major General Dearborn." 

General Dearborn was not ignorant who his best per- 
sonal friends, mentioned in the above letter, were ; and* 
after a constant effort of more than a year, the Secretary 
of War and similar friends had been able to succeed in 
the recall of General Dearborn ; and we shall see that 
he succeeded more fully in effecting his object against 
General Harrison, whose resignation took place soon 
after, in consequence of the repeated insults he received 
jfrom the War Department. To the above letter of the 
President's, General Dearborn replied : 



153 

" Roxhury, August 17, 1813. 
To the President of the United States: 

Sir — I have been honored with your letter of the 
8th inst. It is peculiarly gratifying in my present situ- 
ation to be apprized that your esteem and regard had 
undergone no change, and that you are persuaded that 
I shall not lose in any respect " by the effect of time and 
truth f but, at my time of life, it could hardly be ex- 
pected that I should quietly acquiesce in so unusual and 
unprecedented a measure, as that of being removed from 
command in the manner I have. From the peculiar 
tenor of the order, the measure cannot be viewed in any 
other light than as the result of an opinion that I had 
been guilty of such misconduct as to render my removal 
necessary. 

To suspend an officer of my grade and situation in 
command, except by the sentence of a court martial, or 
the [opinion of a court of inquiry, is such a strong 
measure, as on general principles could only be justified 
by the most unequivocal and outrageous misconduct of 
the officer ; and I cannot permit myself to doubt but 
that, on reflection, it will be considered proper to afford 
me a hearing before a suitable military tribunal, previous 
to my being again ordered on duty. 

I find it is pretended that my suspension from com- 
mand was merely to comply with my repeated requests 
for being allowed to retire for the recovery of my health, 
but every one acquainted with the facts, and with the 
peculiar expressions made use of in the order, will read- 
ily perceive that such pretence is unfounded. 

13» 



154 

In the order I complain of, it being explicitly expressed 
that it came directly from the President of the United 
States, will j I hope, be admitted as an apology for my 
having addressed my observations directly to yourself. I 
shall rely with the fullest confidence, sir, on your justice 
for such fair and honorable proceedings as my situation 
demands. That your health may be speedily re-estab- 
lished is, sir, the sincere prayer of your most obedient 
and .humble servant. 

H. DEARBORN." 

Notwithstanding General Dearborn had requested not 
to be ordered on duty until his military conduct had 
been investigated by a competent tribunal, a different 
course was pursued by the President. 

In the later part of August, Col. G. G. Conner, one of 
General Dearborn's aids, requested that he might be per- 
mitted to join his regiment on the frontiers, where he 
could be actively employed. On his arrival at Sackett's 
Harbor, he waited on General Armstrong, and stated the 
object of his return to the army. General Armstrong 
informed him he had just received the directions of the 
President to order General Dearborn to assume the com- 
mand of District No. 3, as it was expected the British 
contemplated an attack on New-York, and advised him 
to return immediately to General Dearborn. In a few 
days after, the following order was received by General 
Dearborn : 



155 

War Department, Sachet? s Harbor, > 
Sept. 2Ath, 1813. 5 

Sir — The enemy's squadron left the Chesapeake, and 
a belief existing that they mean to shape their course 
northerly, and perhaps with a view to New- York, you 
will be pleased, on receipt hereof, to repair to that post, 
and take on yourself the command of District No, 3. 
I am, sir, very respectfully, your most obedient and very 
humble servant, 

JOHN ARMSTRONG. 

Major General Dearborn, Boston. 

It was very extraordinary, and so General Dearborn 
considered it, that he should be called into service 
before the subject of his removal from Fort George had 
been investigated. That his reputation had very severely 
and unjustly suffered from that account, he was well 
satisfied, and conceiving that the public might entertain 
sentiments injurious to his character as an officer, if he 
should again go into service, without an opportunity of 
publicly vindicating himself, doubted the propriety of 
obeying the order, and had it in contemplation to resign 
immediately, but on mature deliberation, he concluded 
to proceed to* New-York, as the circumstance of his 
being ordered to an honorable command was a public 
acknowledgment on the part of the executive, that his 
reputation had not suffered, or had suffered without 
cause, and particularly when the reasons assigned for 
the order, were such as evinced no loss of confidence in 
him by the President ; besides, if he resigned, he would 



156 

be for ever precluded from having an opportunity to 
defend himself before a military tribuual, which he 
sanguinely anticipated ; and for which, on his arrival at 
New- York, he reiterated his request. 

After the disgraceful close of the campaign of 1813, 
conducted by Armstrong, Wilkinson, and Hampton, he 
had an interview with Gen. Armstrong at New York, 
as he passed through the city from the froutier to Wash- 
ington, and urged that a court should be immediately 
organized, as during the winter a sufficient number of 
General officers could be spared from their command for 
that service. Gen. Armstrong endeavored to dissuade 
him from such a measure, and assured him that no 
blame was attached to him, and that his whole conduct 
met the approbation of the Government ; that a court 
was not in the least necessary, for there were no charges 
to be preferred against him. General Dearborn obser- 
ved, whatever might be the sentiments of the national 
Executive, it was notorious his reputation suffered in 
public estimation, as the correspondence on the subject 
could not be laid before the public in a manner which 
corresponded with his feelings as an officer, nor was the 
favorable opinion entertained by the Government known 
to the world ; and there was no way of doing him ample 
justice, but by the promulgation of the decision of a 
competent court, which would be as notorious as the 
fact of his unprecedented removal. It was an act of 
justice due to him, and he owed it to himself, children, 
friends, and the people of the United States, to demand 
as a right a Court of Inquiry, and which he should 
never cease to urge. 



157 

While in Albany, during the winter of 1813-14, 
rinding that his request had not been granted, he wrote 
the following letter to the Secretary of War : 

Albany January 2, 1814. 

Sir, 

'' In my letter to you a few days after I received 
your order to retire from command, I expressed a wish 
that I might be allowed a Court of Inquiry, and I also 
communicated a similar desire to the President of the 
United States. I waited for the return of the President 
and Secretary of War to the seat of Government, as a 
convenient time for having my application attended to. 
I had hoped that I should be favored with a hearing 
before a suitable court, without any more direct applica- 
tion on my part ; but having received no intimation to 
that effect, I consider it necessary to state explicitly, and 
request, that as soon as I am relieved from the tour of 
duty I am now about commencing, [as President of the 
Court Martial for the trial of General Hull,] I may be 
indulged with a hearing before such a court as may be 
deemed proper. 

il From your own remarks, and from common report, 
it appears that some general disapprobation had been 
excited against my conduct as commander of the army 
in the ninth District, and particularly on account of the 
disaster of Lieutenant Colonel Boerstler and the detach- 
ment under his command ; and for having been guilty 
of disobedience of orders. It must be evident, from the 
extraordinary manner of my being suspended from 



158 

command, that strong impressions had been made on 
the mind of the President, to my prejudice, previous 
to his giving explicit directions for that measure, as 
expressed in the order for my removal. 

"'Tis therefore evidently necessary, that a fair and 
impartial investigation should be had ; not only as an 
act of common justice due to myself, but for affording 
such information and satisfaction to the public, as ought 
not to be withheld. I therefore, do most earnestly 
request, that a Court of Inquiry be ordered for the 
investigation of my conduct generally, while command- 
ing the 9th Military District • and particularly in relation 
to such parts thereof, as the President of the United 
States may have deemed improper; and I must take the 
liberty of requesting that I may not be ordered on any 
command until I have been indulged with such an 
investigation*" 

I have the honor to be &c, 
H. DEARBORN. 

Hon. John Armstrong, Secretary of War. 

The next spring, finding his demand was still waived, 
he wrote to the Secretary of State, and desired him to 
lay the subject before the President, who returned the 
following answer. 

Washington, June 15, 1814. 
Dear Sir, 

"I ought to have answered your letter sooner, 
especially as it related to a subject which I find deeply 



159 

interests you. The late extraordinary events in Europe, 
with the duties imposed on me by the arrival of the 
Oliver, will I hope, plead my apology. 

" You say that you ought to have an inquiry into 
your conduct, to justify you against any imputation 
arising from the terms of the order which withdrew 
you from the command on the lines. I have commu- 
nicated your impressions to the President, who is 
perfectly well disposed to afford you the opportunity 
which you desire, at a time when it may be done with- 
out injury to the service. My own idea is, that you 
require no vindication in the case alluded to ; that public 
opinion has already done you justice. You may recol- 
lect that you had been infirm, and had even intimated a 
doubt whether your health would permit you to retain 
the command of the troops. Of the President's constant 
friendship for you, and attention to every circumstance 
interesting to your honor and feelings, I can speak with 
the utmost confidence, as I can that his disposition 
toward you has undergone no change. I am satisfied 
that he had the highest confidence in your integrity, 
attachment to free government, and ability to command ; 
diminished only by the infirmity alluded to, which had 
more weight, considering the very active service imposed 
on you at your time of life. That confidence is unim- 
paired. 

"In such a movement as that in which we are 
engaged, every thing is experimental. The fitness of 
men for stations is equally so. In my opinion you have 
much reassn to be satisfied, because the door has been 



160 

opened to others, who, whatever may have been their 
merits, have not placed you in an unfavorable light 
before our country. What you did, gained you credit. 
Had you been continued on the frontiers exposed to the 
changes of the seasons, and extraordinary fatigues of the 
campaign, and sunk under them by ill health, reproach 
and censure might have fallen heavily on you, as well 
as the Government. 

" I am, however, far from dissuading you from taking 
any course, which, on great consideration, you may find 
essential to your honor or happiness, I only wish, that it 
may not be done under improper impression, and that in 
taking that which you seem to contemplate, it may be 
done at a suitable time. In pursuing any object which 
you may have in view, I beg you to command my 
services without reserve. Be assured it will give me 
sincere pleasure to be useful to you. Always recollect- 
ing as Mrs. Monroe and I do, with deep interest, our 
meeting with your lady in London, and the very 
friendly intercourse which passed between us and our 
families, at a time the most interesting to our country 
and ourselves, we beg you to assure her of our constant 
affection and regards. With great respect and esteem, 
believe me, my dear sir," 

Sincerely yours, 
JAMES MONROE. 

Major General Dearborn. 

After Mr. Monroe was appointed Secretary of War, 
he wrote him again, on the subject of a Court of Inquiry 



161 

and other affairs, to which he received the annexed 
reply ; from which it is clearly to be inferred that the 
military talents of General Dearborn were justly held in 
high estimation by that enlightened and virtuous patriot. 

Washington, July 2lst r 1815. 

Dear Sir, 

"Accept my thanks for your kind attention in 
several letters, which would have been attended to at 
the time received, had not the important event of peace 
taken my attention to the other department, on which a 
pressure has since been made. This event in relation 
to the great body of our fellow-citizens/ may be consid- 
ered highly favorable. The honor of the nation is 
preserved in the treaty. No concession is made. Our 
land and naval forces have acquired glory, and the 
nation character by the contest. The period and cir- 
cumstances under which the treaty was received and 
ratified, being just after the battle at New Orleans, made 
the result highly honorable. 

" I am satisfied, had another campaign been made, that 
we should have shaken if not overset the power of Great 
Britain on this continent. Measures were taken for 
drawing into the field, in aid of the regular troops, 
twenty thousand men from New York, ten thousand 
from Yermont, and a strong force from Kentucky, 
Ohio, the western part of Virginia, and Pennsylvania, 
with a view to force our way toward Quebec, by suitable 
routes. In this movement you would have had a distin- 
guished place. The peace has robbed you and many 

14 



162 

others of glory, but you will find an indemnity for it in 
tho advantages derived from it to your country. I re- 
quested General Swift to consult you and the other 
members of the board on the extent and manner of the 
reduction to a peace establishment, that I might avail 
myself of your reflections without compromitting either 
of you. The passion is strong for extensive reduction. 
I hope it may be confined within proper limits. Perhaps 
you might be disposed to make a visit here. I should 
be happy to see you. With great respect and esteem," 

I am sincerely yours, 
JAMES MONROE. 

Notwithstanding the unceasing efforts of General 
Dearborn to obtain a hearing before a Court of Inquiry, 
that request was denied, and justice withheld from him ; 
but if any doubts should have existed as to the estima- 
tion in which General Dearborn was held by the 
President, the following letter removes them: 

Washington, March Ath. 1815. 
Dear Sir, 

u Being desirous for obtaining for the Department 
of War services which I thought you could render with 
peculiar advantage, and hoping that, for a time at least, 
you might consent to step into that Department, I took 
the liberty, without a previous communication, for which 
there was no time, to nominate you as successor to Mr. 
Monroe, who was called back to the Department of 
State. I had not a doubt, from all the calculations I 



163 

could make, that the Senate would readily concur in 
my views; and if a doubt had arisen, it would have 
been banished by the confidence of the best informed 
and best disposed with whom I conferred, that the nom- 
ination would be welcomed when it was to be decided 
on ; contrary to these confident expectations, an opposi- 
tion was declared in an extent which determined me to 
withdraw the nomination. 

"But, before the message arrived, the Senate very 
unexpectedly had taken up the subject and proceeded to 
a decision. They promptly, however, relaxed so far as 
to erase the proceedings from their journal, and in that 
mode give effect to the withdrawal. I have thought 
this explanation due, both to me and to yourself. I 
sincerely and deeply regret the occasion for it. But to 
whatever blame I may have subjected myself, I trust 
you will see, in the course taken by me, a proof of the 
high value I place on your public, and of the esteem I 
feel for your personal character. Permit me lo add, 
that I have been not a little consoled for the occurrence 
to which I have been accessory, by the diffusive expres- 
sions to which it has led, of sentiments such as your 
best friends have heard with most pleasure. Accept the 
assurance of my great respect and sincere regard." 

JAMES MADISON. 

Major General Dearborn. 

After the nomination, a number of the Senators 
waited on the President, and he then gave them his 
opinion of General Dearborn, and explained to them 



164 

the whole transaction, which had done so much injury 
to a faithful, zealous, and deserving officer. They were 
astonished, and said, if this development had preceded 
the nomination, it would have been instantly confirmed. 

It is to that conversation that the President alludes in 
the last clause of the forgoing letter, and a burst of 
indignation which assailed his ears from some of the 
friends of General Dearborn, who were aequainted with 
the facts, and openly declared their sentiments as to the 
wrongs done to a soldier who had grown gray in the 
service of his country — to a hero of the Revolution — 
who, when injured was denied the rights of an officer, 
and coldly neglected for " time and truth" to obliterate 
a stain imposed by executive injustice. 

Those best personal friends^ mentioned in the letter 
of the President of the 8th of August, were made to 
believe it was more for their interest to destroy the 
reputation of General Dearborn, than vindicate him 
when aspersed. They were such friends as for the time 
wear the mask of sincerity, but can throw it off when 
such an act of baseness will have a tendancy to better 
their situation. They acted their part in such a manner 
as to deceive the President, and hoped to elude the 
suspicions of General Dearborn ; but he knew them 
well, and the reasons which induced them to wrong 
him. 

The tide of war had been changed by the capture of 
York and Fort George. Previously the arms of the 
United States had been disgraced, and accumulated 
disasters marked the events of the preceding campaigns. 



165 

An uninterrupted series of defeats had cast a gloom over 
the nation, which was dissipated by the splendid achieve- 
ments of the army under the direction of General 
Dearborn. A large force was concentrating on the 
borders of Lake Champlain. The efforts of Harrison 
and Perry presaged glorious results in the West. On 
Lake Ontario, Com. Chauncy had so far increased his 
fleet as to render his ascendency certain ; and the army 
of the Niagara was ready to co-operate in such a manner 
as would render the conquest of Kingston, the whole of 
Upper Canada, and probably Montreal also certain. 
The prospect was propitious, and such were the matured 
plans of General Dearborn, that victory would have 
perched on his banners. 

If General Dearborn could by any means be removed 
from command, and the Secretary of War repair to the 
frontier, direct the operations of the campaign, which 
had been gloriously opened, and bring it to a splendid 
conclusion, it would have given him such reputation 
and influence as would have obtained for him the 
appointment of Lieutenant General and commander-in- 
chief of the army of the United States, and thus secure 
to him the Presidential chair. 

The views of the Secretary of War were" early 
developed, of which General Dearborn was apprised by 
his real friends at Washington. Two or three subal- 
terns on the frontiers were agents in the ^scheme of 
ambition, and hints were circulated, through the medium 
of certain papers in different sections of the Union, 
unfavorable to the military character of General Dear- 

14* 



166 

bom, in the shape of " extracts of letters from respec- 
table officers of the army? Those " respectable offi- 
cers" were early known to General Dearborn, but such 
was his confidence in the President, and the officers 
generally of the army, who duly appreciated his talents, 
and worth, and consciousness of his devotion to the best 
interests of his country, that he smiled at the indications 
of the impending storm which was lowering in the 
horizon for his destruction. Stimulated by the ambition 
of a Caesar, the Rubicon of honor was, for the second 
time, passed, and with the sanguine anticipations of a 
Richard, the author of the Newburgh Letters, the future 
hero of the north, hurried to pitch his tent in Bosworth 
fields. Those friends of General Dearborn, who were 
so solicitous for his disgrace, had golden hopes from 
this event. But the disastrous and disgraceful move- 
ments of the army, under the guidance of the Secretary 
of War, caused those hopes to wither, and the triumphal 
entry of the British into the city of Washington blasted 
them for ever. The descent of the St. Lawrence and 
the Bladensburgh retreat damned Armstrong, and 
General Dearborn's "best personal friends" lost their 
anticipated reward, for assisting to blast his reputation. 
At the close of the war, honorable to the American 
arms and character, General Dearborn was called on by 
the government for his aid and advice in the reduction 
of the army to the peace establishment, and the retention 
of the most suitable and competent officers to be con- 
tinued in command. That this delicate operation when 
many good officers must be dismissed, was performed 



167 

with ability and uprightness, with the sole view to the 
honor of the army and good of the country, appears from 
the names of the principal officers retained — Brown? 
Jackson, Scott, McComb, Gaines, Ripley and Miller. 

Soon after he retired from the army to private life, he 
Was called before the public by the republican party, as 
their candidate for Governor of the ancient Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts. For this office he was opposed 
by the federal party, then a large majority in the state, 
and an opposing candidate of respectable abilities, revo- 
lutionary services and unimpeached moral character. 
Under these circumstances, his personal and political 
friends could hardly expect a favorable result for their 
candidate ; and General Brooks, the opposing candidate, 
was elected Governor. 

Early in 1822, he was appointed by President Monroe, 
with the unanimous consent of the senate, minister pleni- 
potentiary to the Court of Portugal. There were no 
events of special interest in that mission. He was highly 
respected by the king and court to which he was accredi- 
ted and all the foreign ministers then resident at Lisbon, 
and discharged his duties in a manner entirely to the 
satisfaction of his own government. In 1824, he return- 
ed home, and was never after in any public employment. 
After the revolutionary war and the organization of the 
federal government till 1824, General Dearborn received 
appointments from four Presidents of the United States 
— all Virginians — -Washington, Jefferson, Madison and 
Monroe. All these offices were of high responsibility — 
Marshall of Maine, Secretary of War, Collector of the 



168 

port of Boston, Commander-in-chief of the army, and 
Foreign minister. 

In all these important offices he acted with ability, in- 
tegrity, and the most unsullied reputation as a patriot. 
On the 6th of June, 1829, at his seat at Roxbury, Mass., 
he died, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. 

General Dearborn was stout and active, six feet full 
in height, strong, and in middle age not too much en- 
cumbered with flesh : in after life his flesh rather increas- 
ed. He was exactly fitted for the toils, fatigues and pomp 
of war. His countenance and whole person was digni- 
fied and commanding. His weight was considerably 
above two hundred. His mind was solid and compre- 
hensive, which entitled him to the highest military sta- 
tions. 

There was a loftiness in his character which forbade 
resort to intrigue and hypocrisy, in the accomplishment 
of his views, and he rejected the contemptible practice of 
disparaging others to exalt himself. He was beneficent 
to his friends, but reserved and cold toward those whose 
correctness in moral principles became doubtful in his 
mind. 

As a soldier, he was a rigid, but not a severe discipli- 
narian ; he obeyed readily his superior, and required the 
like obedience from his inferior. From his active mind 
and athletic body, he was from early life a sportsman, 
and indulged in the amusement of fishing. His fowling:- 
piece and every accompaniment was always in readiness, 
as well as his fishing-apparatus, which, in the latter part 
of his life, he carried with him in his every journey to 



169 

the State of Maine. In these sports, his dog was never 
forgotten. 

The games of cricket and ball he practiced with ardor 
till past the meridian of life. But, of the gymnastic ex- 
ercises, in the revolutionary war and after, practised much 
more then than at this day, wrestling was probably his 
favorite ; for, from his skill, great muscular power, and 
temperance in all things, he obtained the mastery on 
every occasion. When not engaged in business, or 
otherwise occupied, he was a constant reader through 
life, not only of all the old English standard works, but 
of all new publications of merit. One of the few times 
the writer ever saw him, he found him reading Scott's 
"Ivanhoe," which was laid aside on the introduction of 
a few strangers, among whom was one of the oldest phy- 
sicians and accomplished gentlemen in the city of Boston. 
A variety of subjects were started in conversation, and 
the physician repeatedly afterward expressed his surprise 
at the correctness and ability with which he entered into 
every subject started, declaring that previously he had 
considered him merely a military character. 

At the age of twenty-one years, in 1771, he married 
Mary Bartlett, one of the most ancient names in New 
Hampshire, by whom he had two daughters. She died 
in 1778. In 1780 he married Dorcas Marble, a widow 
lady of Andover, Mass., by whom he had two sons and 
a daughter. This second wife died in 1811. In 1813 
he married Sarah Bowdoin, widow of the Hon. James 
Bowdoin, who died in 1826, without children. He sur- 



i70 

vived all his wives, with whom he lived in perfect do- 
mestic happiness, more than fifty years. 

It is only known that one daughter and one son, by 
his second wife, survive him. The daughter has long 
been respectably and eligibly married, residing in Maine. 
From her purity of character and good sense, she is dis- 
tinguished in the society in which she moves. The son 
is resident in the vicinity of Boston, who bears the name 
of his father, to which is added the name of Alexander 
Scammell, who has been previously mentioned in this 
sketch. 

It is believed the son, in a good measure, sustains the 
excellencies and virtues of the persons whose names he 
bears : if so, few men, if any, can stand higher. To 
place these children where only they could wish to be 
placed, is to say what is known of them : they appreci- 
ate the character of their parent, remember his example, 
and follow his precepts. General Dearborn continued 
through life in that branch of the Christian church in 
which he had been educated — the Congregational : not 
that he believed it essential that the true worshipper of 
the Father should attach himself to any one sect or de- 
nomination, but he did believe that the Congregational 
order was more congenial to our republican institutions, 
apostolic example and precept, and, more than all, gave 
fuller latitude to the exercise of private judgment in 
everything ecclesiastical and religious. He believed it 
Life to believe on the one true God, and Jesus Christ 
whom he sent ; and* he believed this Teacher was the 
Way, the Truth, and the Life. In this belief he left this 



171 

life for a future, in the full possession of a calm and 
sound mind. 

Ho often mentioned General Arnold, whom he well 
knew, being with him when wounded at Quebec and 
Saratoga. He considered him, for energy and capacity, 
the first general officer of the Revolution, and often ex- 
pressed his astonishment at his treason. He despised 
him as a traitor, but never failed to speak of him as most 
able and gallant in action, always ready and collected, 
and saw instantly the exact thing to be done, and at the 
proper moment. He considered him capable of doing 
the most desperate deeds as a commander. Neither 
Gates nor Congress, in his opinion, did him justice for 
his conduct at Saratoga ; for he was the only general on 
the field, and fought the battle in defiance of Gates, who 
never left his quarters, or at least he was not seen in ac- 
tion, neither did he believe he was. 

Soon after the war of independence, he accidentally 
met Arnold at St. Johns. Arnold attempted to excuse 
his conduct, and appeared not only solicitous, but in dis- 
tress to explain ; but Gen. Dearborn at once put an end 
to the conversation, by saying, his conduct was indefen- 
sible, and he held his character in such estimation, that 
no excuse or explanation could be made, and he wished 
not to hear him on that subject, for his own opinion was 
not to be changed. 

None of General Dearborn's writings have fallen into 
the writer's hands ; but his official letters, and reports, as 
secretary of war, and his account of the battle of Bunker's 
Hill, have been before the public. That account will 



172 

be here inserted, as well for its apparent accuracy and 
truth, as giving a specimen of his style of writing : 

" On the 16th of June, 1775, it was determined that 
a fortified post should be established at or near Bunkers 
Hill. A detachment of the army was ordered to advance 
early in the evening of that day, and commence the 
erection of a strong work on the heights in the rear of 
Charlestown, at that time called Breed's Hill ; but, from 
its proximity to Bunker's Hill, the battle has taken its 
name from the latter eminence, which overlooks it. 

u The work was commenced and carried on under the 
direction of such engineers as we were able to procure 
at that time. It was a square redoubt,, the curtains of 
which were about sixty or seventy feet in extent, with 
an intrenchment extending fifty or sixty feet from the 
northern angle, toward Mystic river. In the course of 
the night, the ramparts had been raised to the height of 
six or seven feet, with a small ditch at their base ; "but it 
was yet in an imperfect state. Being in full view from 
the northern heights of Boston, it was discovered by the 
enemy at daylight, and a determination was formed by 
General Gage for dislodging our troops from this new 
and alarming position. Arrangements were promptly 
made for effecting this important object. The movement 
of the British troops, indicating an attack, were soon disco- 
vered ; in consequence of which, orders were immediately 
issued for the march of a considerable part of our army, to 
reinforce the detachment at the redoubts on Breed's Hill ; 
but such was the imperfect state of discipline, the want 



173 

of knowledge in military science, and the deficiency of 
the materials of war r that the movement of the troops 
was extremely irregular, and devoid of every thing like 
concert — each regiment advanced according to the opin- 
ions, feelings, or caprice of the commander. 

" Colonel Stark's* regiment was quartered at Medford, 
distant about four miles from the point of anticipated 
attack. It consisted of thirteen companies, and was the 
largest regiment in the army. About ten o'clock in the 
morning he received orders to march. The regiment 
being destitute of ammunition, formed in front of a house 
occupied as an arsenal, where each man received a gill 
cup full of powder, fifteen balls, and one flint. The 
several captains were then ordered to march their com- 
panies to their respective quarters, and to make up their 
powder and balls into cartridges with the greatest possi- 
ble despatch. As there were scarcely two muskets in a 
company of equal calibre, it was necessary to reduce the 
size of the balls for many of them : and as but a small 
proportion of the men had cartridge-boxes, the remainder 
made use of powder-horns and ball- pouches. 

" After completing the necessary preparations for ac- 
tion, the regiment formed and marched about one o'clock. 
When it reached Charlestown Neck, we found two regi- 
ments halted in consequence of a heavy enfilading fire 

u * This distinguished veteran is still alive, (1813) in the 91st yearof his 
age, and resides in the State of New Hampshire. He is one of the three 
surviving general officers of the revolutionary war. The other two are 
Maj. Gen. St. Clair, who lives in the interior of Pennsylvania, and Brig. 
Gen. Huntington, of Connecticut. 

15 



174 

thrown across it, of round, bar and chain shot, from the 
Lively frigate and floating batteries anchored in Charles 
river and a floating battery lying in the river Mystic. Ma- 
jor McClary went forward and observed to the comman- 
ders, if they did not intend to move on, he wished them 
to open and let our regiment pass : the latter was imme- 
diately done. My company being in front, I marched 
by the side of Col. Stark ; who moving with a very de- 
liberate pace, I suggested the propriety of quickening the 
march of the regiment, that it might sooner be relieved 
from the galling cross-fire of the enemy. With a look 
peculiar to himself, he fixed his eyes upon me, and ob- 
served with great composure, * Dearborn, one fresh man 
in action is worth ten fatigued ones,' and continued to 
advance in the same cool and collected manner. When 
we had reached Bunker's Hill, where General Putnam 
had taken his station, the regiment halted for a few mi- 
nutes for the rear to come up. Soon after, the enemy 
were discovered to have landed on the shore at Morton's 
Point, in front of Breed's Hill, under cover of a tre- 
mendous fire of shot and shells from a battery on Cop's 
Hill, in Boston, which had opened on the redoubt at day- 
break. 

" Major-general Howe and Brigadier- general Pigot 
were the commanders of the British forces which first 
landed, consisting of four battalions of infantry, ten com- 
panies of grenadiers, and ten of light infantry, with a 
train of artillery. They formed as they disembarked, 
but remained in that position until they were reinforced. 
At this moment the veteran and gallant Stark harangued 



/ 



175 

his resfiment in a short but animated address ; then di- 
rected them to give three cheers, and make a rapid 
movement to the rail-fence which ran from the left, and 
about forty yards in the rear of the redoubt, toward the 
Mystic river. 

" Part of the grass having been recently cut, lay in 
winrows and cocks on the field. Another fence was 
taken up, the rails run through the one in front, and the 
hay mown in the vicinity, suspended upon them, from 
the bottom to the top, which had the appearance of a 
breast- work, but was in fact no real cover to the men ; 
it however served as a deception to the enemy. This 
was done by the direction of the ' committee of safety? 
of which James Winthrop, Esq. who then, and now lives 
in Cambridge, was one, as he has within a few years in_ 
formed me. Mr. Winthrop himself acted as a volunteer 
on that day, and was wounded in the battle. 

" At this moment, our regiment was formed in the 
rear of the rail fence, with one other small regiment from 
New Hampshire, under the command of Col. Reed ; the 
fire commenced between the left wing of the British 
.irmy, commanded by Gen. Howe, and the troops in the 
redoubt under Colonel Prescott, while a column of the 
enemy was advancing on our left, on the shore of Mystic 
river, with an evident intention of turning our left wing, 
and that veteran and most excellent regiment of Welsh 
fusileers, so distinguished for its gallant conduct in the 
battle of Minden, advanced in column directly on the rail 
fence ; when within eighty or a hundred yards, displayed 
into line, with the precision and firmness of troops on 



176 

parade, and opened a brisk but regular fire by platoons, 
which was returned by a well-directed, rapid and fatal 
discharge from our whole line. 

" The action soon became general, and very heavy 
from right to left. In ten or fifteen minutes the enemy 
gave away at all points, and retreated in great disorder, 
leaving a large number of dead and wounded on the 
field. The firing ceased for a short time, when the 
enemy formed, advanced, and re-commenced a spirited 
fire from his whole line. Several attempts were again 
made to turn our left, but the troops having thrown up 
a slight stone wall on the bank of the river, and laying 
down behind it, gave such a deadly fire, as cut down al- 
most every man of the party opposed to them ; while the 
fire from the redoubt and the rail fence was so well 
directed and so fatal, especially to the British officers, 
that the whole army was compelled a second time to re- 
treat with precipitation and great confusion. At this 
time the ground was covered with the dead and wound- 
ed. Only a few small detached parties again advanced, 
which kept up a distant, ineffectual, scattering fire, until 
a strong reinforcement arrrived from Boston, which ad- 
vanced on the southern declivity of the hill, in the rear 
of Charlestown ; it wheeled by platoons to the right and 
advanced directly on the redoubt, without firing a gun. 
By this time our ammunition was exhausted; a few 
only had a charge left. 

st The advancing column made an attempt to carry the 
redoubt by assault ; but, at the first onset, every man that 
mounted the parapet was cut down by the troops within, 



177 

who had formed on the opposite side, not being prepared 
with bayonets to meet a charge. The column wa- 
vered for a moment, but soon formed again ; when a for- 
ward movement was made, with such spirit and intre- 
pidity, as to render the feeble efforts of a handful of men, 
without the means of defence, unavailing ; and they fled 
through an open space in the rear of the redoubt, which 
had been left for a gate-way. At this moment the rear 
of the British column advanced round the angle of the 
redoubt, and threw in a galling flank fire upon our 
troops, as they rushed from it, which killed and wound- 
ed a greater number than had fallen before during the 
action. The whole of our line immediately gave way 
and retreated with rapidity towards Bunker's Hill, carry- 
ing off as many of the wounded as possible, so that only 
thirty-six or seven fell into the hands of the enemy — 
among whom were Lt. Col. Parker, and two or three 
other officers who fell in or near the redoubt. 

" When the troops arrived at the summit of Bunker's 
Hill, we found Gen. Putnam, with nearly as many men 
as had been engaged in the battle ; notwithstanding which 
no measure had been taken for reinforcing us, nor was 
there a shot fired to cover our retreat, or any movement 
made to check the advance of the enemy to this height ; 
but on the contrary, Gen. Putnam rode off, with a num- 
ber of spades and pick-axes in his hands, and the troops 
that had remained with him inactive during the whole 
of the action, although within a few hundred yards of 
the battle-ground and no obstacle to impede their move- 
ment but musket-balls. 

15* 



178 

" The whole of our troops now descended the north- 
west declivity of Bunker's Hill, and re-crossed the Neck. 
The New Hampshire line towards Winter Hill, and the 
others on to Prospect Hill. Some slight works were 
thrown up in the course of the evening — strong ad- 
vance pickets were posted on the roads leading to 
Charlestown, and the troops, anticipating an attack, 
rested on their arms. 

" It is a most extraordinary fact that the British did 
not make a single charge during the battle, which, if 
attempted, would have proved fatal and decisive, as the 
Americans did not carry fifty bayonets into the field. In 
my company there was but one. Soon after the com- 
mencement of the action, a detachment from the British 
force in Boston landed in Charlestown ; and within a 
few moments the whole town was in a blaze. A dense 
column rose to a great height, and there being a gentle 
breeze from the southwest, it hung like a thunder-cloud 
over the contending armies. A very few houses escaped 
the dreadful conflagration of this devoted town. 

" From similar mistakes, the field-ammunition fur- 
nished for the field-pieces, was calculated for guns of a 
larger calibre, which prevented the use of field-artillery 
on both sides. There was no cavalry in either army. 

<{ From the ships of war and a large battery on Cop's 
Hill, a heavy cannonade was kept up upon our line and 
redoubt, from the commencement to the close of the ac- 
tion and during the retreat ; but with little effect, except 
killing the brave Maj. Andrew M'Clary of Col. Stark's 
regiment, soon after we retreated from Bunker's Hill. 



179 

He was among the first officers of the army — possessing 
a sound judgment, of undaunted bravery, enterprising, 
ardent and zealous, both as a patriot and soldier. His 
loss was severely felt by his compatriots in arms, while 
his country was deprived of the services of one of her 
most promising and distinguished champions of liberty. 

14 After leaving the field of battle I met him afid drank 
some spirit and water with him. He was animated and 
sanguine in the result of the conflict for independence, 
from the glorious display of valor which had distinguish- 
ed his countrymen on that memorable day. 

" He soon observed that the British troops on Bunker's 
Hill appeared in motion, and said he would go and re- 
connoiter them, to see whether they were coming out 
over the neck, at the same time directed me to march 
my company down the road towards Gharlestown. We 
were then at Tuft's house near Ploughed Hill. I imme- 
diately made a forward movement to the position he di- 
rected me to take, and halted while he proceeded to the 
old pound, which stood on the site now occupied as a 
tavern- house not far from the entrance to the neck. After 
he had satisfied himself that the enemy did not intend to 
leave their strong posts on the heights, he was returning 
towards me, and within twelve or fifteen rods of where I 
stood with my company, a random shot, from one of the 
frigates lying near where the centre of Craigie's bridge 
now is, passed directly through his body, and put to 
flight one of the most heroic souls that ever animated 
man. 

" He leaped two or three feet from the ground; pitched 



180 

forward and fell dead upon his face. I had him carried 
to Medford, where he was interred, with all the respect 
and honors we could exhibit to the manes of a great and 
good man. He was my bosom friend ; we had grown 
up together on terms of the greatest intimacy, and I loved 
him as a brother. 

" My position in the battle, more the result of accident 
than any regularity of formation, was on the right of the 
line at the rail-fence, which afforded me a fair view of 
the whole scene of action. 

" Our men were intent on cutting down every officer 
they could distinguish in the British line. When any of 
them discovered one he would instantly exclaim, ' there ! 
see that officer ! let us have a shot at him !' when two or 
three would fire at the same moment ; and as our soldiers 
were excellent marksmen and rested their muskets over 
the fence, they were sure of their object. An officer 
was discovered to mount near the position of Gen. Howe, 
on the left of the British line, and ride towards our left ; 
which a column was endeavoring to turn. This was 
the only officer on horseback during the day, and as he 
approached the rail-fence, I heard a number of our men 
observe, ' there ! there ! see that offieer on horseback ; 
let us fire.' < No, not yet ; wait until he gets to that little 
knoll— now!' — when they fired and he instantly fell 
dead from his horse. It proved to be Major Pitcairn, a 
distinguished officer. 

" The fire of the enemy was so badly directed, I should 
presume that forty-nine balls out of fifty passed from one 
to six feet over our heads ; for I noticed an apple-tree, 



181 

some paces in the rear, which had scarcely a ball in it 
from the trunk and ground as high as a man's head, 
while the trunk and branches above were literally cut to 
pieces. 

" I commanded a full company in action, and had only 
one man killed and five wounded, which was a full aver- 
age of the loss we sustained, excepting those who fell 
while sallying from the redoubt, when it was stormed 
by the British column. 

" Our total loss in killed was eighty-eight, and as well 
as 1 can recollect, upward of two hundred wounded. 
Our platoon officers carried fusees. 

" In the course of the action, after firing away what 
ammunition I had, I walked to the higher ground to the 
right, in rear of the redoubt, with an expectation of pro- 
curing from some of the dead or wounded men who lay 
there, a supply. While in that situation, I saw at some 
distance a dead man lying near a small locust tree. As 
he appeared to be much better dressed than our men 
generally were, I asked a man who was passing me, if 
he knew who it was. He replied, ' It is Dr. Warren.' 

" I did not personally know Dr. Warren, but was ac- 
quainted with his public character. He had been recent- 
ly appointed a general in our service, but had not taken 
command. He was President of the Provincial Congress 
then sitting at Watertown, and having heard that there 
would probably be an action, had come to share in what- 
ever might happen, in the character of a volunteer, and 
was unfortunately killed early in the action. His death 
was a severe misfortune to his friends and country. Pos- 



182 

terity will appreciate his worth and do honor to his me- 
mory. He is immortalized as a patriot, who gloriously 
fell in defence of freedom. 

" The number of our troops in action, as near as I 
was able to ascertain, did not exceed fifteen hundred. 
The force of the British at the commencement of the 
action, was estimated at about the same number, but they 
were frequently reinforced. Had our ammunition held 
out, or had we been supplied with only fifteen or twenty 
rounds, I have no doubt that we should have killed and 
wounded the greatest part of their army and compelled 
the remainder tofiave laid down their arms; for it was 
with the greatest difficulty that they were brought up the 
last time. Our fire was so deadly, particularly to the 
officers, that it would have been impossible to have re- 
sisted it, but for a short time longer. 

" I did not see a man quit his post during the action, and 
do not believe a single soldier who was brought into the 
field, tied, until the whole army was obliged to retreat 
for want of powder and ball. 

" The total loss of the British was about twelve hun- 
dred ; upward of five hundred killed, and between six 
and seven hundred wounded. The Welsh fusileers suf- 
fered most severely ; they came into action five hundred 
strong, and all were killed or wounded but eighty-three* 

" I will mention an extraordinary circumstance to 
show how far the temporary reputation of a man may 
affect the minds of all classes of society. 

" General Putnam had entered our army at the com- 
mencement of the revolutionary war, with such a uni- 



183 

versal popularity as can scarcely now be conceived, even 
by those who then felt the whole force of it ; and no 
one can at this time offer any satisfactory reasons why 
he was held in such high estimation. 

<£ In the battle of Bunker's Hill he took post on the 
declivity toward Charlestown Neck ; where I saw him 
on horseback as we passed on to Breed's Hill, with Col. 
Gerrish by his side. I heard the gallant Col. Prescott ? 
(who commanded in the redoubt) observe after the war, 
at the table of his Excellency, James Bowdoin, then 
Governor of this Commonwealth, * that he sent three 
messengers during the battle to Gen. Putnam, requesting 
him to come forward and take the command, there being 
no general officer present, and the relative rank of the 
Colonel not having been settled ; but that he received no 
answer, and his whole conduct was such, both during 
the action and the retreat, that he ought to have been 
shot.' He remained at or near the top of Bunker Hill 
until the retreat, with Col. Gerrish by his side ; I saw 
them together when we retreated. He not only con- 
tinued at that distance himself during the whole of the 
action, but had a force with him nearly as large as that 
engaged. No reinforcement of men or ammunition was 
sent to our assistance ; and, instead of attempting to cover 
the retreat of those who had expended their last shot in 
the face of the enemy, he retreated in company with 
Col. Gerrish, and his whole force, without discharging a 
single musket. But, what is still more astonishing, 
Col. Gerrish was arrested for cowardice, tried, cashiered, 
and universally execrated ; while not a word was said 



184 

against the conduct of Gen. Putnam, whose extraordi- 
nary popularity alone saved him, not only from trial, 
but even from censure. Col. Gerrish commanded a re- 
giment, and should have been at its head. His regiment 
was not in action, although ordered ; but as he was in 
the suit of the general, and appeared to be in the situa- 
tion of adjutant -general, why was he not directed by 
Putnam to join it, or the regiment sent into action under 
the senior officer present with it ? 

,( When Gen. Putnam's ephemeral and unaccountable 
popularity subsided or faded away, and the minds of the 
people were released from the shackles of a delusive 
trance, the circumstances relating to Bunker Hill were 
viewed and talked of in a very different light ; and the 
selection of the unfortunate Col. Gerrish as a scape-goat 
considered as a mysterious and inexplicable event. 

11 1 have no private feeling to gratify by making this 
statement in relation to Gen. Puttiam, as I never had 
any intercourse with him, and was only in the army 
where he was present, for a few months ; but at this 
late period, I conceive it a duty to give a fair and impar- 
tial account of one of the most important battles during 
the war of independence, and all the circumstances con- 
nected with it so far as I had the means of being cor- 
rectly informed. 

" It is a duty I owe to posterity, and the character of 
those brave officers who bore a share in the hardships of 
the revolution. 

u Nothing like discipline had entered our army at that 
time. Gen. Ward, then commander-in-chief, remained 



185 

in his quarters in Cambridge, and apparently took no 
interest or part in the transactions of the day. 

" No general officer, except Putnam, appeared in 
sight, nor did any officer assume the command, under- 
take to form the troops, or give any orders, that I heard 
except Col. Stark, who directed his regiment to reserve 
their fire on the retreat of the enemy, until they advanced 
again. Every platoon officer was engaged in discharg- 
ing his own musket and left his men to fire as they 
pleased, hut never without a sure aim at some particular 
object, which was more destructive than any mode 
which could have been adopted with troops who were 
not inured to discipline, and never had been in battle, 
but were still familiar with the use of arms, from boy- 
hood, and each having his peculiar manner of loading 
and firing, which had been practised upon for years 
with the same gun ; any attempt to control them by uni- 
formity and system, would have rendered their fires 
infinitely less fatal to the enemy. Not an officer or 
soldier of the continental troops engaged was in uni- 
form, but were in the plain and ordinary dress of citizens ; 
nor was there an officer on horse-back. (Signed) 

H. DEARBORN." 

It was attempted to invalidate this account, at the 
time, by a publication by Col. Daniel Putnam, son of the 
General, and the statements of Colonels John Trumbull 
and Thomas Grosvenor, were given, as sufficient to 
lessen or destroy the weight of Dearborn's statement, so 
far as it implicated Gen. Putnam, for ail agreed to the 

16 



1S6 

accuracy of the account in every other particular. Col. 
Putnam wrote and expressed himself with much warmth ; 
calling Dearborn hard names, and denouncing him as a 
disgraced General and base slanderer. Unfortunately 
for the truth of history, it was a time of great political 
excitement, Gen. Dearborn being at the time the 
Democratic candidate for Governor of Massachusetts, 
and General John Brooks the opposing or Federal can- 
didate. The writer, at the time was a voter in that 
state, and for two successive years deposited his vote in 
favor of Brooks, who both years obtained the election. 
He is not sensible of having any predilection in favor of 
Dearborn, either personally or politically, neither has he 
the least objection to him or his statement in itself; the 
truth being the only object in such a case, and the only 
issue before the public. Colonel Putnam further stated 
with great, confidence, that the conduct of his father was 
such during the war, as to secure the entire confidence of 
Congress, Washington and the public. His pamphlet is 
not now before me and I write from recollection. 

In support of the charges against Dearborn and in 
defence of his father, he published the following letters, 
from Colonels Trumbull and Grosvenor. " In the sum- 
mer of 1786, I became acquainted in London, with Col. 
John Small, of the British army, who had served in 
America many years, and had known General Putnam 
intimately during the war of Canada from 1756 to 1763. 
From him I had the two following anecdotes respecting 
the battle of Bunker Hill; I shall nearly repeat his 
words ; looking at the picture which I had almost com- 



187 

pleted, he said : "1 do not like the situation in which 
you have placed my old friend Putnam ; you have not 
done him justice. I wish you would alter that part of 
your picture, and introduce a ciicumstance which actu- 
ally happened, and which I can never forget. When 
the British troops advanced the second time to the attack 
of the redoubt, I, with other officers was in front of the 
line to encourage the men ; we had advanced very near 
the works undisturbed, when an irregular fire, like a 
feu-de-joie, was poured in upon us ; it was cruelly fatal. 
The troops fell back, and when I glanced my eye to the 
right and left, I saw not one officer standing ; I looked 
to the right and left, and saw several young men level- 
ing their pieces at me ; I knew their excellence as 
marksmen, and considered myself gone. At that mo- 
ment my old friend Putnam rushed forward, and strik- 
ing up the muzzles of their pieces with his sword, cried 
out, " For God's sake, my lads, dont fire at that man — I 
love him as I do my brother." We were so near each 
other that I heard his words distinctly. He was obeyed ; 
I bowed, thanked him, and walked away unmolested. 

At the moment when the troops succeeded in carrying 
the redoubt, and the Americans were in full retreat, Gen. 
Howe, (who had been hurt by a spent ball which bruised 
his ancle,) was leaning on my arm. He called suddenly 
to me : do you see that elegant young man who has just 
fallen? Do you know him? I looked to the spot 
towards which he pointed — Good God, sir, I believe it is 
my friend Warren ! Leave me then instantly — run — 
keep off the troops, save him if possible ! I flew to the 



188 

spot, " my dear friend," I said to him, " I hope you are 
not badly hurt ;" he looked up, seemed to recollect me, 
smiled and died ! A musket ball had passed through the 
upper part of his head. 

JOHN TRUMBULL." 
" Daniel Putnam, Esq." 

In addition to the above, the following letter from 
Judge Thomas Grosvenor, of Pomfret, addressed to Col. 
Putnam son of the General, was published to repel the 
statement of General Dearborn. "Being under the 
command of Gen. Putnam, part of our regiment and a 
much larger number of Massachusetts' troops under Col. 
Prescott were ordered to march, on the evening of the 
sixteenth of June, 1775, to Breed's Hill, where under the 
immediate superintendence of Gen. Putnam, ground 
was broken and a redoubt formed. On the following 
day, the seventeenth, dispositions were made to deter the 
advance of the enemy, as there was reason to believe an 
immediate attack was intended. Gen. Putnam during 
the period was extremely active, and directed principally 
the operations. All were animated, and their General 
inspired confidence by his example. The British army 
having made dispositions for landing at Morton's Point, 
were covered by the fire, shot and sheils from Copp's 
Hill, in Boston, which it had opened on our redoubt 
early in the morning, and continued the greatest part of 
the day. At this moment a detachment of four lieu- 
tenants (of which I was one) and one hundred and 
twenty men, selected the previous day from General 



1S9 

Putnam's regiment, under Captain Knowlton, were, by 
the General, ordered to take post at a rail fence on the 
left of the breast work, that ran north from the re- 
doubt to the bottom of Breed's Hill. This order was 
promptly executed, and our detachment, in advancing to 
the post, took one rail fence and placed it against the 
other, (as a partial cover,) nearly parallel with the line 
of the breast work, and extended our left nearly to 
Mystic river. Each man was furnished with one pound 
of gunpowder and forty-eight balls. The ammunition 
was received, however, prior to marching to Breed's Hill. 
In this position our detachment remained until a second 
division of British troops landed, when they commenced 
a fire of their field artillery of several rounds, and par- 
ticularly against the rail fence ; then formed in columns, 
advanced to the attack, displayed in line at about the 
distance of musket shot, and commenced firing. At 
this instant our whole line opened upon the enemy, and 
so precise and fatal was our fire, that in the course of a 
short time they gave way and retired in disorder out of 
musket shot, leaving before us many killed and wounded- 
There was but a short respite on the part of the British, 
as their lines were soon filled up and led against us \ 
when they were met as before, and forced back with 
great loss. On reinforcements joining the enemy, they 
made a direct advance on the redoubt, and being suc- 
cessful, which our brave Captain Knowlton perceiving, 
ordered a retreat of his men, in. which he was sustained 
by two companies under the command of Captains Clark 

and Chester. The loss of our detachment. I presume* 

16* 



190 

was nearly equal. Of my own immediate command of 
thirty men and one subaltern, there were eleven killed 
and wounded ; among the latter was myself, though not 
so severely as to prevent my retiring. At the rail fence 
there was not posted any corps save our own under 
Knowlton, when the firing commenced ; nor did I hear 
of any other being there till long after the action. Other 
troops, it was said, were ordered to join, but refused do- 
ing so. Of the officers on the ground, the most active 
within my observation, were General Putnam, Colonel 
Prescott and Captain Knowlton ; but no doubt there 
were many more, equally brave and meritorious, who 
must naturally have escaped the eye of one attending to 
his own immediate command." 

The subjoined letter from Washington to Putnam, 
taken from Humphrey's Life of Putnam, seems to have 
been in answer to a letter of Putnam's to him, the design 
of which was to obtain Washington's opinion and influ- 
ence to secure his pay when not in service. This letter 
was published by Col. Putnam to show the entire con- 
fidence Washington always reposed in Gen. Putnam his 
father, and thereby lessen the weight of Dearborn's state- 
ment. 

* Head Quarters, 2d June, 1783." 
Dear Sir, 

Your favor of the 20th May I received with 
much pleasure. For I can assure you that among the 
many worthy and meritorious officers with whom I have 



191 

had the happiness to be connected in the service during 
the course of this war, and from whose cheerful assist- 
ance [and advice I have received much support and 
confidence] in the various and trying vicissitudes of a 
complicated contest, the name of Putnam is not for- 
gotten. The Secretary of War who is now here, 
informs me that you have ever been considered as entitled 
to full pay since your absence from the field, and that 
you will still be considered in that light until the close 
of the war ; at which period you will be equally entitled 
to the same emoluments of half pay or commutation as 
other officers of your rank. The same opinion is also 
given by the paymaster-general who is now with the 
army." 

The above extract from Washington's letter, is all 
that expresses any opinion of Putnam; and that is 
exceedingly equivocal. It may be here noticed that 
Mr. Peabody, in a recent life of Putnam, has interpolated 
the words in the above letter inclosed in brackets ; a 
very significant alteration, it might have been the result 
of accident. Col. Grosvenor, a gentleman of high 
standing, has no doubt given a true account of what he 
saw. Having been called on to contradict Dearborn, it 
may be presumed he would have done so, if truth 
would have permitted. His history so far as it alludes 
to General Putnam, was all in the forenoon, two or 
three hours before the action commenced, for Stark with 
whom Dearborn marched, did not arrive at Breed's Hill 



192 

more than half an hour before the action commenced, 
nearly or quite three o'clock in the afternoon. Grosvenor 
does not say he saw Putnam in the action, although 
willing it should so be believed. No part of his state- 
ment, bears favorably or unfavorably on Dearborn, 
directly, but is strong negative testimony in support of 
it. Washington's opinion of Putnam will be noticed 
hereafter. 

After the above statements were published, and many 
anonymous publications, in the prints of the day, tending 
to keep up a strong feeling against General Dearborn ; 
he caused to be published in a Boston paper # what 
follows : — 

" As it appears from various publications that attempts 
have been made to invalidate the account, which I have 
given of the battle of Bunker Hill, and thus to produce 
an excitement against me, not warranted by facts, I have 
been induced to have the following documents made 
public. If there are any persons of candid and unpre- 
judiced minds, who have conceived there were some 
grounds for doubting the general correctness of my 
observations, in relation to that memorable event, the 
concurring declarations of many respectable characters 
may afford them satisfaction." 

H. DEARBORN. 

Boston, June 10th, 1818. 



193 

Gen. Michael M'Clary's Letter. 

" Epsom, May 10, 1818. 
" Dear Sir— 

" Your letter of the 1st instant I received yester- 
day, and a few days previously, I saw in the New Hamp- 
shire Patriot the account published by your father of 
what is generally called Bunker Hill battle, which, to the 
best of my recollection, is correct. 

"I was in the battle from its commencement to the 
end, and have no recollection of seeing Gen. Putnam in 
or near it. I was the principal part of the time the ac- 
tion continued near Col. Stark, who commanded the 
regiment to which I belonged, and on our retreat from 
Breed's Hill, in ascending Bunker Hill, I well remember 
seeing Gen. Putnam there on his horse, with a spade in 
his hand. 

" Being an officer in the company under your father's 
command, I had an opportunity of knowing the circum- 
stances generally attending the battle ; and if Gen. Put- 
nam had been there [that is, taken any part in it] I 
should have known it. 

" I am, dear sir, &c. 

" MICHAEL McCLARY, 

* H. A. S. Dearborn." 

Gen. B. Pierce's Letter. 

" Hillsboro, N. H., May 17, 1818. 
" Much respected general — 

" I have read your account of the battle of Bun- 
ker Hill, and consider it to be more like the thing itself 



194 

than any statement I have seen. I went on to the hill 
about II o'clock, A. M., on the 17th. When I arrived 
at the summit of Bunker Hill, I saw there two pieces of 
cannon, and two or three soldiers standing by them, who 
said they belonged to Oapt. Calender's company, and 
that the officers had run away. Gen. Putnam sat there 
upon a horse. I saw nobody else but him and the before 
mentioned soldiers. The general requested our compa- 
ny (which was commanded by Capt. John Ford, of 
Chelmsford, Massachusetts) to take these cannon down 
to the lines ; which they refused to do, saying they had 
no knowledge of the use of artillery, but were ready to 
fight with their own arms. Capt. Ford then addressed 
his company in a very animated strain, which had the 
desired effect, and they seized the ropes, and soon drew 
the cannon to the rail fence. 

" I think I saw Gen. Putnam at that place, looking 
for something he had lost. I did not hear him give any 
orders^ or assume any command, except at the top of 
Bunker Hill, when I was going to the field of action. I 
remained at the rail fence until all the powder and ball 
were spent. I had a full view of the movements of the 
enemy, and I think your statement of the order of the 
day, and of the two contending armies, correct, and can- 
not be denied with the semblance of truth. Excuse an 
old soldier. 

u I am, sir, &c., 

" B. PIERCE. 

" Maj. Gen. Henry Dearborn." 



195 
Letter of Dr. Thomas Kittridge, of Andover. 

"Boston, June 18, 1818. 

■ Sir— 

" I received your letter of the 8th instant in due 
season, in which you request me to answer certain ques- 
tions respecting the battle on Bunker Hill, so called. 

" I was surgeon in Frye's regiment, and marched with 
the troops in the evening of the 16th of June, 1775, 
which consisted of three regiments, according to the best 
of my recollection — Frye's, Prescott's and Bridge's.* — 
Col. Prescott was considered commander of the whole 
detachment. We arrived at the hill late in the evening, 
and the troops immediately commenced throwing up 
works for our defence. * * * * I left the hill with 
the first who was wounded, passed over Charlestown 
Neck, where I proceeded to dress his wounds. You ask 
whether I saw Gen. Putnam on that day, and where ? 
I saw him only once, as I came off, at the foot of the 
lower hill, between where the battle was and Charles- 
town Neck. He was under a tree, with, as 1 supposed, 
about thirty or forty men. I made a halt, when I came 
against him, of three or four minutes ; and while I was 
there, I heard Gen. Putnam request some of the men to 
go up to the fort and endeavor to get some of the in- 



* " According to Col. Swett, there were attached to this expedition, 
in addition to the above, one hundred and twenty men of Gen. Putnam's 
regiment, and one company of artillery, making in all about one thousand 
men. 



196 

trenching tools. I immediately left them, went over the 
Neck, and there continued dressing the wounded until 
the engagement was over. 

" I am, sir, (fee, 
" THOMAS KITTRIDGE. 
" Gen. H. A. S. Dearborn." 

"I, Samuel Lawrence, of Groton, Esquire, testify and 
say, that I was at the battle of Bunker Hill, (so called) 
in Col. Wm. Prescott's regiment ; that I marched with 
the regiment to the point on Breed's Hill, which was fixed 
on for a redoubt ; that I assisted in throwing up the 
work, and in forming a redoubt, under Col. Prescott, 
who directed the whole of this operation. The work 
was begun about nine o'clock in the evening of June 16, 
1775. I was there the whole time, and continued in the 
redoubt, or in the little fort, during the whole battle until 
the enemy came in and a retreat was ordered. 

" Gen. Putnam was not present either while the works 
were erecting, or during the battle. I could distinctly 
see the rail fence and the troops stationed there during 
the battle, but Gen. Putnam was not present as I saw. 
Just before the battle commenced, Gen. Warren came to 
the redoubt. He had on a blue coat, white waistcoat, 
and I think a cocked hat, but of this I am not certain. 
Col. Prescott advanced to him, said he was glad to see 
him, and hoped he would take the command. General 
Warren replied, 'No, he came to see the action, but not 
to take command ; that he was only a volunteer on that 
day.' Afterwards I saw Gen. Warren shot ; I saw him 



197 

when the ball struck him, and from that time until he 
expired. No British officer was within forty or fifty rods 
of him, from the time the ball stiuck him until I saw he 
was dead. 

" (Signed) SAMUEL LAWRENCE." 

Sworn to before Sam'l. Dana, Justice of the Peace, &c. 

11 1 commanded a company of artillery from the town 
of Marblehead, attached to Col. Richard Gridley's regi- 
ment, stationed at Cambridge. About one o'clock in the 
afternoon of the 17th of June, 1775, I left Cambridge 
with my company, for Bunker's Hill. When about a 
quarter of a mile from the Colleges, I saw Gen. Putnam 
pass upon a horse towards the town of Cambridge, and 
in. fifteen or twenty minutes I saw him pass in like man- 
ner towards Charlestown. When I arrived at Bunker's 
Hill, on the north-west side, I there saw Gen. Putnam 
dismounted, in company with several others. I halted 
my company, and went forward to select a station for my 
pieces, and on my return, saw Gen. Putnam as before ; 
the American and English forces being then engaged. 
I proceeded on with my company, and soon after joined 
that part of the American force at the rail fence, towards 
Mystic river, the Americans commenced a general retreat. 
As I was descending the north-west side of Bunker's 
Hill, I again saw Gen. Putnam in the same place, putting 
his tent upon his horse. I asked him where I should 
retreat with the field-piece I had brought off; he replied 
to Cambridge, and I accordingly marched my company 

to Cambridge. 

17 



198 

" In the month of May or June, 1795, being in the 
island of Guernsey, I had occasion in the course of busi- 
ness to call upon Maj. (alias Col. Small,) the governor. 
After closing my business with him, he remarked that 
my countenance was not new to him, and inquired where 
he had seen me. I replied, that it must have been at 
Col. Ingersoll's tavern, in Boston — and that I had once 
been opposed to him in action. He immediately entered 
into a free and general conversation on the battle of 
Bunker's Hill ; but he made no inquiry after Gen. Put- 
nam, nor did he in any way, either directly or indirectly, 
allude to him, either as a friend or an officer. 

"SAMUEL R. TREVETT. 

"Boston, June 2, 1818." 

Affidavit of Robert Bradford Wilkins. 
" I, Robert B. Wilkins, of Concord, county of Rock- 
ingham, State of New Hampshire, do testify and say, that 
I acted as a private soldier in the battle' of Breed's Hill, 
otherwise called the battle of Bunker's Hill, on the 17th 
of June, 1775 ; that I was attached to Capt. Levi Spaul- 
ding's company, of Col. Jas. Reed's regiment. That 1 
was on that day stationed at Charlestown, below the 
Neck and on the main street ; that our company pro- 
ceeded from thence on to Bunker's Hill, over the hollow 
and on to Breed's Hill ; that after our company arrived 
at the works, near Mystic river, I was sent back on an 
errand, by the captain, to the house where we had been 
stationed, and on returning by a route nearer to the 
Neck, than that we first passed, I saw Gen. Putnam with 



199 

Col. Gerrish, as near as I could judge one hundred rods 
from the line and troops I had left ; that the firing with 
small arms commenced after I returned the second time ; 
that in the action the enemy were three times repulsed ; 
that in the interval between the second and third repulse, 
I received a severe wound from a musket-ball in my 
right elbow-joint, for which wound I have since received 
a pension from the government of the United States ; 
that I then left the field of battle just before the retreat 
of the Americans from the fort, and passed on to Bun- 
ker's Hill, where I found Gen. Putnam and Col. Gerrish 
in nearly the same place where I first saw them ; that I 
was then almost exhausted from the loss of blood; that 
Col. Gerrish gave me some refreshment and bound a 
handkerchief around my arm at the place of my wound) 
and sent two men to assist me over the Neck, who left 
me before I had cleared the Neck, and I fell and lay on 
the ground, until nearly all the Americans had retreated 
from the hill, when I was helped off. I served from the 
commencement to the close of the revolutionary war, and 
acted successively as a private, a sergeant, ensign and 
lieutenant. 

" ROBERT B. WILKINS." 
Sworn to beibre Samuel Greene, Justice of the Peace. 
May, 30, 1818. 

Rev. Dr. Wm. Bentley's Statement. 

<•' Salem, May 20, 1818. 
" I was with General Stark on the 31st of May, 1810. 
I always had a deep interest in the man, and usually 



200 

kept a notice of the subject of our conversation. I found 
him in great good humor, and soon if^on his old war 
stories, which I did not take care minutely to preserve, 
because Maj. Caleb Stark had told me he was collecting 
every thing worthy of the public eye, and to be publish- 
ed after his father's decease, and in due honor of his me- 
mory. As among other objects, I intended to get a like- 
ness, and was uncertain of success, among the maps, 
prints, and papers I carried him, were some portraits, 
and among them was one of Gen. Putnam. I recollect 
upon the sight of the head of General Putnam he said, 
1 My champlain,' as he called me, you know my opinion 
of that man. Had he done his duty, he would have de- 
cided the fate of his country in the first action. He then 
proceeded to describe to me the scene of action and the 
'pen, 1 as he called the enclosed works, and breast- works, 
and gave his reason for not entering it, and the want of 
judgment in the works. He then told me where he saw 
General Putnam and what was done on the occasion, 
and his remarks were as severe as his genius and the 
sentiments of ardent patriotism could make them. As 
Gen. Stark always used the same language on the sub- 
ject, it will be recollected by many of his friends. 

" WILLIAM BENTLEY." 

Certificate op the Rev. Daniel Chaplin, D.D., of 

Groton, and Rev. John Bullard, of Pepperell. 

"This may certify the public, that we whose names 

we have given, were in the habits of intimacy with Col. 

W. Prescott, of Pepperell, a man of the strictest integrity, 



201 

during most of the period after he left the revolutionary 
army until his death ; that at sundry times in conversa- 
tion with him about the war, particularly about the battle 
of Bunker Hill, so called, he uniformly told us, that Ma- 
jor Gen. Warren came to the fort on Breed's Hill, which 
had been formed the night preceding, a little before the 
British made an attack on the works ; that he, Col. Pres- 
cott, said to Gen. Warren, ' I am happy to see you, Ge- 
neral,' or using words to the same effect, ' for you will 
now take command, and I will obey your orders and am 
relieved.' Said Gen. Warren to him, in reply, ' I have 
no command here, Col. Prescott ; I am a volunteer ; 1 
came to learn actual service.' Prescott said, 'I wish* 
then, you would look at the works we have thrown up, 
and give your opinion.' Warren replied, ' You are bet- 
ter acquainted with military matters than 1 am.' After 
which they immediately parted, and met not again. Col. 
Prescott further informed us repeatedly, that when a re- 
treat was ordered and commenced, he was descending 
the hill, he met Gen. Putnam and said to him, { why did 
you not support me, General, with your men, as I had 
reason to expect, according to agreement V Putnam an- 
swered, ■ I could not drive the dogs up.' Prescott point- 
edly said to him, l If you could not drive them up, you 
might have led them up.' We have good reason to be- 
lieve further, from declarations of some of our parishion- 
ers — men of respectability, whose veracity cannot be 
doubted, who belonged to Col. Prescott's regiment, and 
were present through the whole service, that Gen. Put- 
nam was not on Breed's Hill the night preceding, or on 

17* 



202 

that day, except that just before the attack was made, he 
might have gone to the fort and ordered the tools to be 
carried off, that they might not fall into the hands of the 
enemy in the event of his carrying the works, and hold- 
ing the ground ; and that he and his men, with Colonel 
Gerrish, remained on the side of Bunker Hill towards 
the Neck during the whole action. 

" (Signed) DANIEL CHAPLIN, 

« Groton, June 5, 1818. JOHN BULLARD." 

Statement of the Hon. Abel Parker, Judge 
of Probate. 

"As I was in the battle on Breed's Hill, otherwise 
called Bunker's Hill, on the 17th day of June, 1775, 
and there received one ball through my leg, another 
having passed through my clothes, all accounts of that 
battle which I have seen published, have been to me 
extremely interesting. But I have never seen any 
account which I considered in any degree correct, until 
the one by Gen. Dearborn. On perusing that account 
with the utmost attention, I could discover but one mis- 
take, and that related to his assertion, ' that there was 
not a man that flinched, 5 or to that effect, for his narra- 
tive is not now before me, and even in that case, I 
believe the General's assertion may be strictly true, if 
his meaning be confined to the time after his arrival on 
the hill. Previous to that, there were many who left 
the ground at the fort, particularly at the landing of the 
British troops ; but after the commencement of the battle 
with small arms, I know of no man's leaving his post, 



203 

until the order to retreat was given by Col. Prescott, 
But notwithstanding the correctness of Gen. Dearborn's 
description of that battle, some persons seem to be much 
exasperated by it, in particular as to what he asserted in 
regard to Gen. Putnam. As long as they confined 
themselves to mere declamation, without bringing for- 
ward any evidence to disprove the General's assertion, 
I deemed it unnecessary for me to appear in vindication 
of the General's statement. But on perusing a letter 
from Col. Trumbull to Col. Putnam ^ wherein mention 
is made of a conversation with Col. Small in London, 
I concluded, notwithstanding my aversion to take any 
part in a newspaper discussion, that to remain any 
longer silent, would be absolutely criminal. I shall, 
therefore, in as concise a manner as possible, state what 
I know relating to that memorable battle. Immediately 
after the battle of Lexington, I engaged in the service 
of my country, in Capt. John Nutting's company, in 
the regiment commanded by Col. Wm. Prescott. Both 
of these officers belonged to the town of Peperell, 
where I then lived. I was at this time a little more 
than twenty-two years of age. On the 16th day of 
June following, Col. PrescotCs regiment with two or 
three others, were ordered to march and take possession 
of Bunker's Hill. On our arrival at the place called 
Charlestown neck, a halt was made, and Capt. Nutting's 
company, with ten of the Connecticut troops, were 
detached to proceed into Charlestown as a guard ; the 
remainder marched to the hill, which in fact was Breed's, 
and not Bunker's Hill, where they commenced building 



204 

a small fort. In the morning, not far from sun-rising, 
the alarm was fired from the British vessel lying in the 
river. Sometime after this, Nutting's company left the 
town, and marched to join the regiment on the hill. — 
"When we arrived there, the fort was in considerable 
forwardness, and the troops commenced throwing up the 
breast-work mentioned by Gen. Dearborn. We had not 
long been employed in that work, before the cannon 
shot from a hill in Boston, and the vessels lying in the 
river were poured in upon us in great profusion. How- 
ever, the work progressed until it would answer the 
purpose for which it was designed. But the firing 
from the British artillery continued with unabated fury. 
Sometime before this, there was brought to the fort sev- 
eral brass field pieces, one of which was actually fired 
towards Boston ; but the ball did not reach the town. It 
had this effect, however, on the British, that it made 
them double their diligence in firing upon us. In the 
time of this heavy fire, I, for the first time that day, saw 
Gen. Putnam standing with others, under cover of the 
north wall of the fort, where, I believe, he remained 
until the British troops made their appearance in their 
boats. At this time the artillery was withdrawn from 
the fort, but by whose orders I know not, and Gen. 
Putnam^ at, or near the same time, left the fort. The 
removing of the artillery, and Gen. Putnam's depart- 
ure, took place a little before, (if my memory be correct) 
the New Hampshire troops made their appearance on the 
hill. I saw them when they arrived, and witnessed 
their dexterity in throwing up their breast- work of rails 
and hay. 



205 

" When the British first made their attack with small 
arms, I was at the breast work, where I remained until I 
received my wound from the party who flanked it ; I 
then went to the fort, where I remained until the order 
to retreat was given by Col. Prescott. After my arrival 
at the fort I had a perfect opportunity of viewing the 
operations of the day, and noticed Col. P. as the only 
person who took upon him any command. He frequent- 
ly ordered the men from one side to the other, in order 
to defend that part which was prest hardest by the 
enemy ; and I was within a few yards of him, when the 
order to retreat was given ; and I affirm, that at that 
time Gen. Putnam was not in the fort, neither had he 
been there at any time after my entering the same ; and 
I have no hesitation in declaring, that the story told by 
Col. Small to Col. Trumbull, concerning Gen. Putnam's 
saving him from the fire of our men at that time, is 
altogether unfounded. 

ABEL PARKER." 

" Jeffrey, N. H., May 27, 1S18." 

A more dignified and calm appeal to the public in 
vindication of the correctness of his statement, bearing 
on the face of it, a conciousness of having narrated the 
truth in its simplicity, is rarely to be found, and would 
have done credit to his old friend and commander, 
Washington. So complete and satisfactory was this vin- 
dication, from gentlemen of all political bearings, and 
of so high standing in society for veracity, that it has 
precluded any attempt to contradict their statement 
from the day it was given to the present time. 



206 

They all give their statements, without dictation, 
writing separately, at different times and places. They 
were not invited by public advertisements to appear to 
give testimony ; nor were agents employed to travel the 
country to get up testimony. That the opposition to 
Dearborn's account arose, in some measure, from the 
political feelings of the day, may be presumed, from the 
circumstance, that General Heath in his account of 
Breed's Hill battle, published in 1798, says : — 

" Perhaps there never was a better fought battle than 
this, all things considered, and too much praise can 
never be bestowed on the conduct of Col. William 
Prescott, who, notwithstanding any thing that may have 
been said, was the proper commanding officer, at the 
redoubt, and nobly acted his part as such, during the 
whole action. Just before the action began, General 
Putnam came to the redoubt, and told Colonel Prescott 
that the entrenching tools must be sent off, or they 
would be lost ; the Colonel replied, that if he sent any 
of the men away with the tools, not one of them would 
return, to this the General answered, ' they shall every 
man return.' A large party was then sent away with 
the tools, and not one of them returned *, in this instance 
the Colonel was the best judge of human nature. In 
the time of action, Colonel Prescott observed the brave 
General Warren was near the works ; he immediately 
stepped up to him, and asked him if he had any orders 
to give him. The General replied mat he had none, 
that he exercised no command there, * the command,' 
said the General, * is yours.' Heath's account appeared 



207 

thirty years before Dearborn's in which he declares 
Prescott commanded during the whole action ; and was 
never contradicted. He further places Putnam in an 
awkward situation for a general, absorbed with the care 
of entrenching tools, and depriving Prescott of a large 
party, it is said at least two hundred men. This party 
with eighteen or twenty rounds, would in all probability, 
have given Prescott what he most richly deserved, 
victory. — General Wilkinson in his memoirs, published 
two years before Dearborn's, in giving an account of 
this battle says, ' After the third repulse of the light 
infantry, and whilst the attack was carried on against 
the redoubt, Stark's men behind the post and rail fence 
near the Mystic were unassailed and unocupied, and the 
scene near the redoubt being obscured by the smoke, 
they were induced to retreat reluctantly after the work 
was carried. If they had been thrown forward, when 
the light infantry finally gave way, to attack Sir 
Williams Howe's right flank and rear, the issue of this 
conflict might have proved unfortunate for him ; or if 
General Putnam had moved up with Colonel Gerrish 
and the men who remained stationary within six 
hundred yards of the combat, which lasted an hour and 
an half, the triumph of the provincials would have been 
decisive, and those of the British corps who were 
not killed must have surrendered, which would have 
probably terminated the contest and prevented the dis- 
severment of the British empire ; but I understand from 
high authority, that it was in vain that Colonel Prescott 
sent messenger after messenger to entreat General 



208 

Putnam to come to his succor ; he rode about Bunker's 
Hill, while the battle raged under bis eye, with a number 
of entrenching tools slung across his horse, but did not 
advance a step, and was passed, with Colonel Gerrish 
by his side, by Stark and Dearborn, as they retreated, 
near the spot where they saw him when they advanced ; 
and for this conduct Colonel Prescott never ceased to 
reprobate the General." 

This high authority quoted by Wilkinson, was pro- 
bably Colonel Stark, for he says he had the details of 
the battle from him on the field, the 17th of March 
1776, the day the British left that post, when he 
observed "the dead lay as thick as sheep in a fold," 
before the rail fence. Heath and Wilkinson having 
been before the public, the one nearly fifty years, aud 
the other twenty, uncontradicted and acquiesced in, 
while Dearborn was attacked in the most violent 
manner, and personal abuse heaped upon him, makes it 
more than probable that the political excitement of the 
day, or other sinister views and objects, had an undue 
weight. 

In every controversy about the truth of history, or 
the conduct of an individual in exalted station, on any 
particular occasion, and that controversy of recent origin, 
it is prudent and safe to call in the aid of authorities 
of earlier date, and who lived and wrote, at or near the 
time, the event in controversy happened. On referring 
to Marshall. Ramsey, Lendrum, General H. Lee, and 
other respectable historians, it is found they do not 
mention the name of Putnam, as taking any part in the 



209 

action, Gordon, who resided in the vicinity of the 
scene of action, and published his history in four vol- 
umes, as early as 1787, makes Prescott the hero of the 
day, and adds, Putnam was " here and there." 

Botta in his " History of the War of Independence of 
the United States of America," says, " The troops of 
Massachusetts commanded by Col. Prescott, occupied 
Charlestown, the redoubt, and part of the trench ; those 
of Connecticut, commanded by Capt. Knowlton, and 
those of New Hampshire, commanded by Colonel Stark } 
the rest of the trench ; and General Putnam was on the 
hill above to superintend the action." Humphries in his 
life of Putnam, does not place him in the action, but 
says he was active in the retreat. Humphries is careful 
to inform his readers, that the facts in this Life he re- 
ceived from Gen. Putnam's own mouth, and it must 
appear singular, that he did not mention to his biographer 
his being present and in command on such an occasion. 
Gen. Dearborn's declaration, that Prescott commanded 
in the redoubt and Stark at the rail fence, and nothing 
but musket balls prevented General Putnam from re- 
inforcing them, produced great indignation ; but perhaps 
not greater than the following : " When General Put- 
nam's ephemeral and unaccountable popularity subsided 
or faded away, and the minds of the people were released 
from the shackles of a delusive trance, the circumstances 
relating to Bunker Hill, were viewed and talked of in a 
very different light^nd the selection of the unfortunate 
Col. Gerrish as a scape-goat , considered as a mysteri- 
ous and inexplicable event." To this Col. Putnam and 

18 



210 

others gave a full and flat denial, and published Wash- 
ington's letter to Putnam already cited, in confirmation 
of their assertion, that his popularity never did subside 
or fade away. In justice to Gen. Dearborn, the follow- 
ing letters and orders from Gen. Washington and others 
are given, that, the reader may be more fully in posses- 
sion of the facts, as to the above declaration of Dearborn. 

Extract of aletter from John Adams to his wife, while member of Congress, 
and in session at Baltimore, and when the business of the army was 
especially before tliat body, for on the day the letter was written, nine 
individuals were appointed Brigadier Generals, viz. Poor, Patterson, 
Wayne, Varnum, De Haas, Weedon, Muhlenburg, Cadwallader and 
Woodford. 

"Baltimore, 21st February, 1777. 
I sincerely wish we could hear more from General 
Heath. Many persons are extremely dissatisfied with 
numbers of the general officers of the highest rank. I 
don't mean the Commander-in-Chief, his character is 
justly very high, but Putnam, Spencer and Heath, are 
thought by very few to be capable of the high commands 
they hold. We hear of none of their heroic deeds in 
arms. I wish they would all resign." 

About the same time Robert R. Livingston, then 
Chancellor of New- York, wrote Washington. " Your 
Excellency," said he, " is not ignorant of the extent of 
Gen. Putnam's capacity and diligence ; and how well 
soever they may qualify him for this important com- 
mand, [the Highlands,] the prejudices to which his 



211 

imprudent lenity to the disaffected, and too great inter- 
course with the enemy, have given rise, have greatly 
injured his influence. How far the loss of Fort Mont- 
gomery and the subsequent ravages of the enemy are to 
be attributed to him, I will not venture to say ; as this 
will necessarily be determined by a court of inquiry, 
whose determination I would not anticipate. Unfor- 
tunately for him, the current of popular opinion in this 
and the neighboring states, and so far as I can learn in 
the troops under his command, runs strongly against 
him. For my own part, 1 sincerely lament that his 
'patriotism will not suffer him to take that repose to 
which his age and past services justly entitle him." 

Gov. Clinton also wrote pressingly to Washington 
requesting the removal of Putnam from the command 
in the Highlands. 

In 1777, Congress appointed Gov. Clinton a general 
officer in the army of the United States, and gave him 
the command on the North river, because as President 
Hancock, in a letter to Clinton says, « an active and vigi- 
lant officer was required at that post." But Clinton's 
business as govenor, was so pressing, that he was com- 
pelled to decline the appointment, which continued 
Putnam in the command till March, 1778. In the latter 
part of 1777, after the surrender of Burgoyne's army, 
Washington was so desirous to be reinforced, in the 
vicinity of Philadelphia, by troops on the Hudson under 
Gates and Putnam, that he sent Hamilton, his aid, to 
hasten their march, for his letters to them had not had 
the desired effect. Hamilton did not find either of those 



212 

Generals disposed to comply with Washington's orders, 
given through him. He addressed many letters to 
Washington on this subject, and in one dated November 
12, 1777, he says, " By a letter of yesterday, Gen. Poor 
informs me he would certainly march this morning. I 
must do him the justice to say, he appears solicitous to 
join you, and that I believe the past delay is not owing 
to any fault of his, but is wholly chargeable to Gen. 
Putnam. Indeed Sir, I owe it to the service to say, that 
every part of this gentlemarts conduct is marked icith 
blunders and negligence, and gives general disgust." 
Again Hamilton says, " I doubt whether he will attend 
to any thing I shall say, notwithstanding it comes in 
the shape of a positive order. Col. Hamilton had the 
satisfaction of receiving a letter from Washington of 
November 15, 1777, in which he says, "Dear Sir — I 
have duly received your several favors from the time 
you left me to that of the 12th instant. I approve en- 
tirely of all the steps you have taken, and have only to 
wish that the exertions of those you have had to deal with 
had kept pace with your zeal and good intentions." 
Putnam's disobedience of the orders of Washington, 
which prevented him from even attempting the capture 
of Howe, which he had determined to effect, deeply 
affected his mind ; and we find in a letter dated Valley 
Forge, of March 6, 1778, he thus expresses himself in 
reference to the command of Rhode Island. " They 
also know with more certainty than I do, what will be 
the determination of Congress respecting Gen. Putnam ; 
and of course whether the appointment of him to such 



213 

a command as that at Rhode Island would fall within 
their views. 1 1 being incumbent on me to observe, that 
with such materials as I am furnished, the work must 
go on — whether well or ill is another matter. If, 
therefore, he and others are not laid aside, they must 
be placed where they can least injure the service" In 
a letter of Washington to Putnam, dated, " Valley Forge, 
16th March, 1778," he says, " Gen. McDougall is to take 
command of the posts in the Highlands. My reason for 
making this change is owing to the prejudices of the 
people, which whether well or ill grounded, must be 
indulged ; and I should think myself wanting in justice 
to the public and candor towards you, were I to continue 
you in a command, after I have been, almost in direct 
terms, informed that the people of the State of New- 
York will not render the necessary support and assist- 
ance, while you remain at the head of that department. 
"When the inquiry is finished I desire that you will 
return to Connecticut and superintend the forwarding 
on the new levies with the greatest expedition." But 
Putnam reluctantly obeyed this order, for he soon ex- 
pressed a wish to join the main army, as may be gathered 
from Washington to him of April 29th, 1778. " I ex- 
pect in a few days a general plan of operations for the 
campaign will be settled ; if one similar to that which 
you mention should be fixed upon, your assistance will 
be wanting in Connecticut to arrange and forward the 
militia, which we shall have occasion to draw from that 
state, and therefore I wish you to continue there till you 

hear from me." Similar and repeated opinions of Wash- 

18* 



214 

ington and Hamilton might be given, but it seems en- 
tirely unnecessary. The sole reason for which they are 
referred to, is to show that Dearborn's declaration that 
Putnam's " ephemeral and unaccountable popularity, did 
subside and fade away" notwithstanding what has been 
said to the contrary, is fully supported by the opinions 
and actions of Adams, Livingston, Washington and 
Hamilton. Gentlemen, whose opinions, heretofore, and 
in other cases, have been held in high estimation with 
their countrymen, and whose words have been justly 
considered truth. 

All accounts previous to that of Dearborn's, which 
were many, give the command to Prescott, and were si- 
lent with regard to Putnam, or censured him. Anony 
mous writers have been numerous of later times, and 
their statements variant. Capt. Josiah Cleveland is made 
to say, "On the retreat, near the causeway, Putnam met 
with Colonels Gerrish and Poor, with their regiments, 
whom he reprimanded in the most indignant and fiery 
terms, for not coming to his support. They excused 
themselves by saying it was too dangerous to cross the 
causeway over Bunker's Hill. Putnam replied with an 
oath, that the balls did'nt hit him, and they too might 
have escaped. These men were afterwards cashiered." 
Capt. Cleveland was eighty-seven years old, and did not 
sign this statement ; but the editor of the Oswego adver- 
tiser says he told him this, and so published it. A suffi- 
cient answer to all this is, Colonel Poor was not within 
fifty-five miles of Bunker's Hill that day, unless Exeter, 
New Hampshire, is nearer ; nor was he ever cashiered, 



215 

but died of a fever in 1780, and was buried at Hacken- 
sack, New Jersey ; and in the opinion of Washington, 
an officer of distinguished merit, who, as a citizen and 
soldier, had every claim to the esteem of his country." 

Among the great variety of opinions expressed in re- 
gard lo the degree of merit due the several actors in our 
revolutionary struggle, it is satisfactory to find some dis- 
posed to speak of them with calmness, candor, and per- 
sonal knowledge. In a manuscript letter, now before 
me, of August, 1842, from a very intelligent gentle- 
man, we have such an expression : " I lived in Pomfret, 
within three miles of Gen. Putnam, when he died, in 
1790, and am very well acquainted with his public and 
private character. It is a common practice for all nations 
to represent all their commanders as invincible heroes. 
Putnam was so represented by some Americans, in April, 
1775 ; while some of the enemy at that time said he was 
a mere wolf-catcher and Indian-hunter, who was hardly 
equal to command a company of grenadiers. During 
the battle on Breed's Hill, I believe Putnam was seen 
near the hill, urging men to go into the battle, but that 
he was chief of the time on Bunker's Hill, where there 
was no danger from the enemy's bullets ; that he showed 
an improper anxiety in the time of battle to save spades 
and pickaxes, I have no doubt. I think a full, correct 
and impartial history of the battle of Bunker Hill (such 
a one has not, I believe, yet been published,) would 
prove conclusively that General Putnam had not talents 
that fitted him to command an army. From the pub- 
lished accounts of the disastrous battle on Long Island, 



216 

by Marshall, Ramsey and others, and from an account 
of the battle I have had from Col. Knowlton's son, who 
was there, I have no doubt the chief misfortunes of the 
day may be attributed to the great want of military tal- 
ents of the commander, Gen. Putnam. Daniel Putnam, 
(page 3) says : ' two days before the battle of Flatbush, 
in consequence , of the sickness of that excellent officer, 
Gen. Green, who had commanded on Long Island, Gen. 
Putnam was ordered to the command of that post, and 
assisted in the arduous and complicated difficulties of that 
masterly retreat.' [). Putnam is the only person that I 
ever heard or read of, who asserted that Gen. Putnam 
assisted in that masterly retreat. I believe that General 
Putnam remained in his fortified camp, at Brooklyn, du- 
ring the battle, while General Sullivan did the fighting 
without the lines, but he could not retrieve the blunders 
of Putnam. General Putnam was a plain, industrious? 
prudent farmer, and, I think, was a brave, honest man, 
but without talents or other qualifications to constitute a 
general. I believe it would be difficult at this time to 
offer any satisfactory reason why he was held in such 
high estimation by some of the Americans previous to 
the battle of Breed's Hill." 

The writer of the above letter is still living, and wrote 
without expressing any wish that it should be considered 
or treated as confidential ; but not having an opportuni- 
ty of seeing or writing him, on the occasion, before this 
goes to press, his name is not given at this time. From 
Col. Swett's history of this battle, and he was never sus- 
pected of being desirous of supporting Gen. Dearborn 



217 

in his declarations, being one of Gov. Brook's military 
family, we have the different declarations of Putnam and 
Prescott, previous to the battle. Putnam says : " From 
long experience he perfectly comprehended the character 
of the British ; they would ultimately succeed and drive 
us from the works ; but from the mode of attack they 
had chosen, it was in our power to do them infinite mis- 
chief, though we must be prepared for a brave and or- 
derly retreat, when we could maintain our ground no 
longer." When preparation on the part of the British 
was apparent to attack the works thrown up by Prescott, 
and the men felt and expressed a wish to leave them, 
having worked all night, and spent the day without re- 
freshments, he instantly repressed their feelings by decla- 
ring, { the enemy would not dare to attack them, and if 
they did, would be defeated ; the men who had raised 
the works were the best qualified to defend them ; they 
had already learned to despise the fire of the enemy ; 
they had the merit of the labor, and should enjoy the 
honor of the victory.' " These two declarations had the 
effect which might naturally be supposed : the one to 
create a trepidation in young and inexperienced soldiers, 
and prevent them going into action, in which they were 
told by their general they were to be defeated ; the other, 
to retain them where they were, await the approaching 
danger, and defend their works to the last extremity, with 
the assurance of victory. The one, if not the suggestion 
of fear, was to the last degree imprudent and injudicious; 
the other, the most gallant and has placed its author, for 
his conduct on that day, first among his countrymen. — 



218 

Washington's conduct at Braddock's defeat will not com- 
pare with it. 

Anonymous writers and village editor^ have, since 
Dearborn's account, written and published often repeated 
statements, to lessen the weight of his account, without 
facts to support them. One publication appeared in a 
Boston periodical of 1818, and republished in the "New 
World," New York, 1S41. Who the author was, is un- 
known. The object is to demolish Dearborn, prevent 
his being elected Governor of Massachusetts, and excite 
Gen. Putnam's descendants to resent everything said 
against their ancestor. He does riot doubt General 
Dearborn's " personal veracity," but denies that General 
Dearborn is the person talking ; but Captain Dearborn. 
That General Dearborn, in 1818, is not bound to relate 
truly what Captain Dearborn saw in 1775, although the 
general and captain are one and the same man, not 
possessing two distinct natures or intelligences. He fur- 
ther says, " General Dearborn probably knows that Col. 
Prescott and Gen. Putnam kept up a friendly acquaint- 
ance during their lives." General Dearborn nor the 
writer of the above sentence ever had any such know- 
ledge as is implied. Had such been the fact, the writer 
could have given it, as Prescott and Putnam both had 
sons living when he wrote. But this fact is assumed to 
lessen the weight of the uniform and constant statement 
of Col. Prescott ; and no one ever doubted his veracity, 
"that Putnam's conduct during the action and retreat 
was such that he ought to have been shot." The writer 



219 

further states, that the British pursued our troops over 
Bunker Hill, the Neck, and to Winter Hill, where Put- 
nam met them and drove them hack under cover of their 
ships — a mis-statement in every part. The writer at last 
agrees with Dearborn, and says the battle should be 
called " Prescott's Battle." But Dearborn's great offence, 
in the opinion of the anonymous writer, is, he wrote 
" voluntarily and without necessity." The venerable 
Marshall wrote voluntarily and without necessity, when 
he said the disastrous affair at Brooklyn Heights occurr- 
ed, or were greatly aggravated by Gen. Putnam's total 
neglect of Washington's written order to guard the ave- 
nues to his camp. This being neglected, the British co- 
lumns, during the preceding night, occupied in silence 
and unnoticed the very position they wished. He wrote 
voluntarily about the capture of forts Montgomery and 
Clinton, in the Highlands, where Putnam commanded — 
when he said he had men enough to have prevented 
these disasters, had they been suitably arranged and dis- 
posed. A man who gives an account of how a battle is 
fought, is equally bound to give the true cause of its 
loss. Had Dearborn, in his account of the battle, given 
a full list of what Colonel Hamilton called his ' £ endless 
blunders and caprices," he might have been viewed as a 
wanton deceiver ; for his account did not require any 
thing more than what related to Putnam's conduct on 
the day of the battle of Breed's Hill. Had he withheld 
the cause of the loss of the battle, his narrative would 
have been incomplete, and unsatisfactory. 



220 

Without taking into consideration the weight of tes- 
timony in favor of Gen. Dearborn's account, it may 
well be asked what possible motive could he have 
had for stating a falsehood respecting a transaction which 
he saw. He was more than sixty-five years of age when 
he made the statement, had fought his way from a cap- 
tain to commander-in-chief of the American army, as 
well as high and important civil offices, without a suspi- 
cion against his moral character, patriotism, or capacity. 
What could induce a man to make shipwreck of such a 
character ? 

This has occasioned a pause on the part of his revilers ; 
and in charity to him, they say they are willing to believe 
he was superannuated and in his dotage. This is mere 
affectation ; for after he wrote his account, he was nomi- 
nated by President Monroe as a foreign minister, and 
unanimously approved by the senate ; and nearly all of 
them had known him personally. This office he accept- 
ed, and performed all the duties of it to the acceptance 
of the government. Was Gen. Dearborn now alive, he 
would have less reason to complain of the treatment he 
has received than Washington ; for the same kind of 
people openly aver that Washington's fear of Putnam's 
popularity was so great, that he feared being superceded 
by him ; and that he was a New England man, and 
therefore he made the statements he did against him. 
Did Washington ever withhold his confidence in Greene, 
Lincoln, Knox, or Poor, because they were New Eng- 
land men ? 



221 

If the minds of the people in 1775 were in the " shack- 
les of a delusive trance" in regard to the standing and 
services of Gen. Putnam, a similar trance remains upon 
them relative to the motives of Washington's treatment 
of him. 

That a highly respectable clergyman of Charlestovvn, 
recently delivering an address on the anniversary of 
Blinker's Hill battle, at the request of his fellow-towns- 
men, should be sneered at by a descendant of Gen. Put- 
nam's, for giving the credit of the day to Col. Prescott, 
to whom all history had given it, and placing Putnam on 
the hill above in charge of the entrenching tools,by calling 
him a young man, was not surprising ; but that Wash- 
ington's motives should at this day be considered other 
than the purest patriotism would justify, was not ex- 
pected. 

The error Col. Trumbull was led into by Maj. Small, 
in London, in 1786, in placing Gen. Putnam in his pic- 
ture, seems the true reason why he was ever thought of 
as an actor in the battle of Bunker's Hill. Trumbull 
had originally placed him in the back-ground of his 
picture, and made the alteration at the suggestion of 
Major Small. Prescott is represented as a feeble old 
man, with a slouched hat, plain coat and under- clothes, 
more like a Quaker than a soldier, and placed in a situ- 
ation little corresponding with command. If a historian, 
or graphic historiographer does not tell the whole truth, 
he is bound not to violate known truth. Col. Trumbull, 

19 



years before his death, was satisfied of his mistake, and 
said, he believed " Putnam had little or nothing to do 
with the battle." 

With those who will or can, with candor, examine 
Gen. Dearborn's account, and the evidence in support of 
it, he will remain the true narrator of an important event 
of the revolution — the veteran soldier — the honest and 
upright public servant — entitled to the respect of his 
countrymen. 

THE END. 




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